Improvements in self-compassion after an online program for adults with celiac disease: Findings from the POWER-C study

ABSTRACT

Part 1 involved pilot testing two programs for people with celiac disease (self-regulation, SR; or SR plus self-compassion, SR+SC). Results from focus groups revealed participants wanted more and tailored content, and new content bi-weekly versus weekly. In Part 2, we assessed the feasibility of delivering the programs online and the effects of the programs on behavioural and psychological outcomes. All participants reported significant improvements on adherence to a gluten-free diet, quality of life, self-regulatory efficacy (SRE) and concurrent SRE. The SR+SC group reported significant improvements in self-compassion and medium effect size reductions in anxiety and depression. Findings from this study can be used to inform guidelines for strategies to help people to effectively manage and cope with celiac disease.

KEYWORDS:

• Gluten enteropathy
• self-compassion
• quality of life
• self-control
• mental health

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Concurrent self-regulatory efficacy is defined as one’s ability to follow a strict GFD while also striving for important life goals, which may have impacts on how one manages their chronic condition (Jung & Brawley, 2013).

2 Q1 and Q3 are first and third quartiles (i.e., the 25^th and 75^th percentiles). IQR is the interquartile range, which equals the difference between the 75^th and 25^th percentiles.

3 For each of the two outcomes, CDAT and self-compassion, we also conducted a GEE analysis with the baseline measure as a covariate to control for the initial difference and compare the three groups at Time 2 and Time 3. The results show that, for CDAT, baseline scores were significantly associated with responses at later time points (${\chi }^2$ (1) = 61.82, p < .001), but the differences between groups were non-significant (${\chi }^2$ (2) = 0.17, p > .05). For self-compassion, the baseline (${\chi }^2$ (1) = 357.25, p < .001), group (${\chi }^2$ (2) = 9.99, p = .007), and the interaction between group and time (${\chi }^2$ (2) = 17.59, p < .001) were all statistically significant. Compared with the waitlist control, the two treatment groups reported higher self-compassion at Time 3.