Naoko Kishita

• PhD
• Associate Professor at University of East Anglia

Anticipatory grief (AG) in family carers of people living with motor neurone disease (MND) is underexplored. Research has identified MND symptoms as significant predictors of AG in carers. This study investigated whether carer psychological inflexibility moderates the relationship between MND symptoms and carer AG, a crucial area for informing supp...

Background: Dementia does not merely affect individuals, the carer and the person living with dementia, but also has a profound impact on their spousal relationship. As such, this study aimed to gain a deeper understanding of how dementia affects spousal relationships with a focus on interpersonal (i.e. relationship adjustment, communication engage...

Background: Following the successful completion of feasibility and acceptability studies of internet-delivered self-help Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for family carers of people with dementia (iACT4CARERS), a full-scale randomised controlled trial (RCT) evaluating its clinical and cost effectiveness will be conducted. This paper describes the...

Introduction As people with dementia progressively experience difficulties when performing daily tasks, family carers often become the main providers of support. Little is known about the role of carer support during task performance. Therefore, Occupational Therapy interventions are often underinformed in this area. Knowledge of how carers assist...

Objective: To investigate the effect of carer- and disease-related factors on anticipatory grief (AG) in family carers supporting people living with Motor Neurone Disease. Methods: Seventy-five carers from the UK and USA participated in this cross-sectional study, between July 2021 and February 2023. Participants completed assessments on: antici...

This study aimed to explore the views of family carers of people living with dementia from ethnic minority groups and their therapists on internet-delivered, self-help acceptance and commitment therapy for family carers (iACT4CARERS), enhanced with additional therapist guidance. To achieve this, a qualitative approach with semi-structured interview...

Background and objective:Despite the high prevalence of anxiety and depression, many family carers of people living with dementia are not able to access timely psychological support due to various barriers such as lack of respite care and a shortage of skilled therapists. Online treatments have the potential to improve access, and also scalability,...

Despite high prevalence of anxiety, current interventions for family carers of people with dementia are considered to be not as effective for anxiety as they are for depression. Understanding the mechanism by which a common stressor (i.e. carer subjective burden) and underlying psychological processes influence anxiety among this population is crit...

Background Despite the high prevalence of anxiety symptoms among family carers of people with dementia (Kaddour & Kishita, 2020), current carer interventions are considered to be not as effective for anxiety as they are for depression (Kishita et al., 2018). Therefore, understanding the mechanism by which a common stressor (i.e. carer subjective bu...

Background The prevalence of anxiety symptoms is estimated to be equal to or higher than the prevalence of depressive symptoms in family carers of people with dementia. However, anxiety is currently somehow neglected in the carer literature. Previous studies demonstrated that Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is effective for treating anxiety...

Background. Family carers of people living with motor neurone disease (MND) face continuous changes and losses during the progression of the disease, impacting on their emotional wellbeing. Carers’ emotions might affect their engagement in everyday activities and their caring role. However, how carers manage their emotions and which strategies they...

The purpose of this mixed methods systematic review was to identify factors associated with anticipatory grief, post-death grief, and prolonged grief in informal carers of people living with Motor Neuron Disease (MND) to inform future research and practice. Six electronic databases were searched and two quantitative and eight qualitative studies we...

This study developed the Japanese version of the Experiential Avoidance in Caregiving Questionnaire (J-EACQ) and assessed its reliability and validity. A 2-wave longitudinal study with an interval of two weeks was conducted with Japanese dementia family caregivers (n=355 at T1; n=246 at T2). Confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses (CFA/EFA) we...

Anxiety remains understudied in family carers of people with dementia. Understanding factors that moderate the relationship between stressors and anxiety symptoms in this population is critical to inform interventions. This study examined whether generic experiential avoidance (AAQ-II) and experiential avoidance specific to caregiving-related thoug...

Objectives: This study developed the Japanese version of the Valued Living Questionnaire Adapted to dementia Caregiving (J-VLQAC) and assessed its reliability and validity. Methods: A 2-wave longitudinal survey with an interval of two weeks was conducted with Japanese dementia family caregivers (n = 521 at T1; n = 424 at T2). Results: Confirma...

Objective and research design: This study investigated whether the relationship between experiential avoidance and carer depression is mediated by cognitive fusion using path analysis and whether this model differs between family carers from Japan, Spain, and the UK using multi-group path analysis. Results The whole sample model (N = 745) showed a...

Objectives Behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) are considered to cause ambivalent feelings in caregivers that may contribute to understanding their depressive symptoms. Transnational research is needed in order to increase our knowledge about the cross-cultural equivalence of theoretical models to understand caregivers’ mental...

Background The identification and understanding of the discrepancy between caregivers’ reports of people with dementia’s (PwD) performance of activities of daily living (ADLs) and observed performance, could clarify what kind of support a PwD effectively needs when completing tasks. Strategies used by caregivers have not been included in the invest...

The role of anxiety on the quality of life of family carers of people with dementia is somewhat neglected in the carer literature. The current study aimed to investigate the impact of common risk factors (i.e., care recipient's neuropsychiatric symptoms , carer depression, and burden) and anxiety on QoL. This cross-sectional study recruited 89 fami...

Existing interventions for family carers of people with dementia tend to be less effective for anxiety than for depression. Therefore, identifying factors affecting carer anxiety is important to inform future interventions. This study conducted 2 multiple regression analyses using a sample of 91 family carers. The first regression model (ΔR 2 = .24...

Purpose To explore carers’ views and acceptability of internet-delivered, therapist-guided, self-help Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) for family carers of people with dementia (iACT4CARERS). Methods A qualitative approach with semi-structured interviews was employed with family carers (N = 23) taking part in a feasibility study of iACT4CAR...

Background A comprehensive meta-analysis quantitatively examining the effects of group Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) on anxiety and depressive symptoms is required to advance our understanding of its efficacy and moderating factors. Methods Four electronic databases were searched in August 2018. An update search was conducted in November...

This study aimed to explore therapists’ perceptions and acceptability of providing internet-delivered, therapist-guided, self-help acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) for family carers of people with dementia (iACT4CARERS). To achieve this, a qualitative approach with semi-structured interviews was employed with eight novice therapists recruite...

Background: Anxiety in family carers of people with dementia has been neglected in research, although its prevalence may be similar or even greater to that of depression. The current literature has also demonstrated that existing interventions tend to be less effective for anxiety than for depression or burden in family carers. Therefore, it is im...

Objectives: The feasibility of research into internet-delivered guided self-help Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) for family carers of people with dementia is not known. This study assessed this in an uncontrolled feasibility study. Method: Family carers of people with dementia with mild to moderate anxiety or depression were recruited fr...

Background Consistency between carers’ report of the people with dementia’s (PwD) performance of activities of daily living (ADLs) and observed performance has been an important topic in the literature, but most studies have investigated whether carer’s burden and depression affect this report. Objectives To (1) investigate if carer’s report of Pw...

The current study aimed to investigate the impact of carer-related modifiable factors (i.e., knowledge about dementia, psychological inflexibility, self-compassion and hours of support from other family members) on quality of life (QoL) among family carers. A multiple regression analysis was conducted with QoL as a dependent variable. All factors w...

The current study aimed to identify the educational and support needs of family carers of people with dementia in the early stages of dementia by employing a qualitative approach with retrospective semi-structured interviews with family carers of people in the later stages of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Semi-structured individual interviews were cond...

Background: The relationship between the physical environment and the person with dementia's (PwD) activities of daily living (ADLs) task performance is controversial. Although the general assumption is that this population benefits from their home environment when performing ADLs, very few experimental studies have been conducted to date. Object...

Introduction: People with Dementia (PwD)'s performance of activities of daily living (ADLs) has been associated with apathy, cognitive deficits, carers' depression and burden. However, it is not known if the carers' management style affects ADL performance, particularly alongside PwD's cognitive deficits and apathy. Thus, the aim of this study was...

Background Contreras conducted a comprehensive meta‐analysis on predictive factors of QoL among family carers. The findings suggested that previous studies exclusively relied on generic QoL measures (e.g., feeling satisfied with own physical health) to assess wellbeing among this population. The level of generic QoL is often considered to largely d...

Caregivers of people with dementia who endorse dysfunctional beliefs about caregiving are at high risk of experiencing higher levels of distress. These dysfunctional beliefs are presented in the form of rules, verbal statements that specify what responsibilities one should expect in order to be a "good caregiver," and are characterized as rigid, un...

This meta-analysis examined the prevalence of depression and burden among informal care-givers of people with dementia (PwD) and compared the prevalence of depression between male and female, and spousal and non-spousal, care-givers. The quality of studies was evaluated and moderator variables explored. A search of six electronic databases (PsycART...

The United Kingdom-Brazil Dementia Workshop took place in July 2019 in the city of Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil, with an interdisciplinary group of health and care professionals from the United Kingdom and from Brazil to address challenges in diagnosis, public perception and care of dementia. The aim of this article is to present the results identifi...

This study aimed to explore the impact of carer stressors (neuropsychiatric symptoms of dementia, level of independence in activities of daily living, hours of caring per week), demographic factors (carer age, relationship with the person with dementia, dementia type, dementia severity, number of years since diagnosis and cohabitation status) and p...

Objectives This meta-analysis aimed to (1) quantitatively synthesize evidence of factors related to the quality of life (QoL) of family carers of people with dementia and (2) explore moderating factors that may influence the strength of the relationship between such potential predictive factors and carer QoL. Methods Studies that investigated corr...

Much of the carer literature has focused on depression and burden as primary outcomes and anxiety appear somewhat neglected. Providing evidence on the prevalence of carer anxiety is critical as it can enhance awareness among professionals, which in turn can lead to improved access to efficacious treatments. This meta-analysis updated the previous r...

This overview aimed to systematically synthesize evidence from existing systematic reviews to signpost practitioners to the current evidence base on nonpharmacological interventions to improve depression, anxiety, and quality of life (QoL) in people with dementia and to discuss priorities for future research. The databases MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Scopus...

Objectives This study aimed to review the effectiveness of low-intensity cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)–based interventions for informal dementia caregivers when compared to non-active control conditions. Design Literature searches were conducted in databases of published (PsycINFO, MEDLINE, CINAHL, Scopus) and unpublished (Open Grey, ISRCTN r...

Objective The aim of this study was to update the literature on interventions for carers of people with dementia published between 2006 and 2016 and evaluate the efficacy of psychoeducational programs and psychotherapeutic interventions on key mental health outcomes (depression, anxiety, burden, and quality of life). Methods A meta-analysis was ca...

Experiential avoidance, the tendency to rigidly escape or avoid private psychological experiences, represents one of the most prominent transdiagnostic psychological processes with a known role in a wide variety of psychological disorders and practical contexts. Experiential avoidance is argued to be based on a fundamental verbal/cognitive process:...

The aim of the present study was to examine educational content necessary for cultivating capable cognitive behavioural practitioners. First, data were collected regarding the curricula of cognitive behavioural courses from 35 faculties accredited by the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP). Second, the collecte...

Background and Objectives The application of mindfulness- and acceptance-based interventions (MABIs) for informal caregivers of people with dementia (PwD) is relatively novel, and the current state of the evidence base is unclear. This meta-analysis examined the effectiveness of MABIs on reducing symptoms of depression and burden in informal caregi...

Objectives: The original 24-item Attitudes to Aging Questionnaire (AAQ) is well established as a measure of attitudes to aging, comprising domains of psychosocial loss (PL), physical change (PC), and psychological growth (PG). This paper presents a new 12-item short form Attitudes to Aging Questionnaire (AAQ-SF). Methods: The original field tria...

The current meta-analysis compared the efficacy of CBT for GAD between adults of working age and older people. In addition, we conducted a qualitative content analysis of treatment protocols used in studies with older clients to explore potential factors that may enhance treatment outcomes with this particular client group. Applying the inclusion c...

Objectives: The aim of this study is to review the effectiveness of third wave mindfulness-based cognitive behavioral therapies (CBTs) for depressive or anxiety symptomatology in older adults across a wide range of physical and psychological conditions. Methods: Electronic literature databases were searched for articles, and random-effects meta-...

The Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP) is frequently employed over other measures of so-called implicit attitudes because it produces four independent and “non-relative” bias scores, thereby providing greater clarity around what drives an effect. Indeed, studies have sometimes emphasized the procedural separation of the four trial-type...

We present an explanation of the benefits of using gerontological theory to augment treatment outcome in cognitive behavior therapy (CBT). Traditional formulations/conceptualizations of CBT may not always be the most optimal fit when working with older people, who may be experiencing different developmental life stages compared to adults of working...

Improving attitudes towards ageing has been seen within policy documents as one means of improving the participation and contribution of older people within society (e.g. World Health Organization, 2002). It is important, therefore, to understand the factors that underpin attitudes towards ageing in order to inform strategies and policies as a foun...

The present study aimed to test the reliability and validity of the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP). The validity of the D_ scores was examined as an index of verbal relations, and the response latencies, as an index of psychological flexibility. Undergraduate students (N=32) completed the Anxiety-Implicit Relational Assessment Proc...

The aim of this study was to probe the validity of the Training and Assessment of Relational Precursors and Abilities (TARPA) as a protocol for the measurement of relational skills underlying language in typically developing children. Seven children (5 girls and 2 boys aged 2-6 years) completed the visual-visual range of the TARPA at Time 1. Six of...

The current study tested the validity of the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP) as a tool for clinical assessment. Twenty-four students with high social anxiety were randomly assigned to either cognitive defusion or control conditions. Participants completed a self-report measure of the believability of anxiety -related thoughts and th...

The aim of the present study was to reinvestigate effects of multiple exemplar training procedures on establishment of generalized contextual control over the transformation of stimulus function with 4-member stimulus equivalence classes, instead of 3-member stimuli equivalence classes as in Kishita et al. (2012, in Japanese). Three 4-member stimul...

The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of multiple exemplar training procedure on establishment of generalized contextual control over the transformation of stimulus function. Three 3-member stimulus equivalence classes, each consisting of three topographically distinct visual stimuli (linear, circular, triangle) were established for 12...

The purpose of the present article was to outline directions for future behavioral research on human language and cognition in relation to understanding and treating psychopathological symptoms. According to Relational Frame Theory, which provides a behavioral account of human language and cognition, derived stimulus relations and transformation of...

This paper examines the interactive effects of acceptance-based coping and job control on task performance, subjective stress, and perceived control. Forty-eight undergraduate and graduate students first participated in brief educational programs based on either acceptance or control coping strategies. They then participated in a 30-min high worklo...