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Completed

NCT Number: NCT06462157

Group Compassionate Mind Training for Adults Experiencing the Menopause Transition

Menopause transition occurs naturally for women aged 45-55. In addition to the hormone changes, there are often changes in other areas of life including low mood, anxiety, 'brain fog' and embarrassment. Some people may not be eligible for or want to receive hormone replacement therapy, therefore psychological treatments for menopause have been investigated. There is growing evidence for the use of Compassionate Mind Training (CMT). CMT aims to reduce feelings of self-criticism and shame which are commonly reported by adults experiencing the menopause, by helping individuals to take better care of themselves, known as self-compassion. Findings show menopausal individuals who are more self-critical may be more vulnerable to difficulties during menopause. Therefore, CMT could help manage this. CMT improves self-compassion and reduces depressive symptoms, with group formats found to be more effective than individual or self-help. A previous study of online self-help CMT for the menopause received positive feedback for the therapy and people improved in several areas including self-compassion. Clearly, there could be benefits to offering CMT as a treatment for menopause. Given that group CMT is effective in other populations and groups are more economical and practical for the NHS, this study is interested in looking at the impact of group CMT on menopause.

This study aims to find out how practical and suitable group CMT is for improving the wellbeing of adults experiencing the menopause, and what their views are on the therapy and taking part in the study. To measure the aims, we will look at the ease of recruiting people to the study, whether they are happy to be randomly allocated to receive the therapy or not, whether they stay in the study, the number of completed questionnaires and feedback from participants. It will also look at whether there have been any changes in different domains e.g. anxiety and self-compassion. This will be done through a variety of quantitative and qualitative outcomes.

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Key information

Conditions

Menopause

Age range

40 year–60 year

Sex eligibility

Female

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

University College London

London, County, WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • Adults (aged 40-60) who are biologically female
  • Women who are experiencing symptoms of the menopause or peri-menopause; which is naturally occurring. This is identified through the STRAW criteria. Individuals have to answer Yes on at least one of the STRAW screening questions to ensure women are in the perimenopause or menopausal period.
  • Substantial English verbal communication and comprehension skills
  • Capacity to consent
  • Confident in using video conferencing applications (MsTeams)
  • Willingness to take part in a post-intervention interview about their experience.
  • PHQ-9 score 5-19 (mild to moderate clinical cut offs)
  • GAD-7 score 5-15 (mild to moderate clinical cut offs)

Exclusion criteria

  • People under the age of 40
  • People currently receiving any form of psychology intervention.
  • Transgender females who are biologically male
  • More than 5 years post menopause.
  • PHQ-9 score greater or equal to 20 (severe clinical cut off)
  • GAD-7 score greater or equal to 15 (severe clinical cut off)

Treatment and study plan

Compassionate Mind Training

Other

Participants will attend 6 x 90-minute online CMT sessions. CMT is delivered by combining taught information, exercises, and practices. It is effective, so the aim is to explore its use with menopausal women.

Other names: CMT

Primary outcomes

  1. The Revised Women's Health Questionnaire

    Time frame: To be completed within one week before and within one week after the intervention

    Measures health-related quality of life by measuring perceptions of physical and emotional experiences of middle-aged women. All subscales are scored from yes, definitely (1) to no, not at all (4) with subscales scored with a scoring algorithm transforming each score to a 0-100 scale.

  2. 36-Item Short Form Survey

    Time frame: To be completed within one week before and within one week after the intervention

    Measures quality of life. Each scale is directly transformed into a 0-100 scale on the assumption that each question carries equal weight. The lower the score the more disability.

  3. The Menopause Representations Questionnaire (MRQ)

    Time frame: To be completed within one week before and within one week after the intervention

    Measure to assess beliefs about menopause. It consists of 20 items, scored either no (0), uncertain (1) or yes (2). Higher scores indicate more beliefs about the menopause.

  4. Fears of Compassion Scale

    Time frame: To be completed within one week before and within one week after the intervention

    Measures fears of compassion. It has 38 items, scored either dont agree at all (0) to completely agree (4) on a Likert scale. There are three subscales, subscale items are summed, with higher scores indicating higher fears of compassion.

  5. Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9)

    Time frame: To be completed within one week before and within one week after the intervention

    Measures severity of depression. Score from 0-27, higher scores represent higher severity of symptoms of depression.

  6. General Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7)

    Time frame: To be completed within one week before and within one week after the intervention

    Measures severity of anxiety. Score from 0-21, higher scores represent higher severity of symptoms of anxiety.

  7. The forms of Self Criticising/Attaching & Self-reassuring scale (FSCRS) SELF-REASSURING SCALE (FSCR

    Time frame: To be completed within one week before and within one week after the intervention

    Measures self criticism and the ability to self-reassure. It is a 22-item scale with the items making up three components; inadequate self, hatred self and self-reassure. Responses are given on a 5-point likert scale (0 = not at all lime me, to 4 = extremely like me). Higher scores indicate a greater sense of inadequacy (score 0-20), self-hate (score 0-16), and self-reassurance (score 0-20).

Secondary outcomes

  1. Post intervention interviews

    Time frame: Within 5 weeks post intervention

    Qualitative data on experiences from the group

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

University College, London

Other

Registry information

Official study title

The Feasibility and Effects of Group Compassionate Mind Training for Adults Experiencing the Menopause Transition: a Preliminary Investigation

Important dates

Study start
2024
Primary completion
2025
Study completion
2025
First posted
Jun 17, 2024
Registry last updated
May 7, 2026

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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