This feasibility study explores whether guided imagery techniques can help people to cope with and manage illnesses such as vasculitis
This project is led by Alice Muir with funding from Vasculitis UK
Background
People living with vasculitis face a range of physical symptoms like pain and fatigue that can be difficult to manage. They may also experience emotional distress like anxiety or low mood and social isolation or loneliness due to their ill health. There is evidence to suggest that imagery techniques, which enable people to use their imagination to form pictures, sounds, smells, tastes and sensations in their mind to aid relaxation and understand problems, can help people to manage these symptoms, improving their general well-being and helping them to cope. We have developed a short program to teach imagery techniques to people living with vasculitis in order to explore whether this might be an intervention which they find helpful.
Aims
1) Design an 8-week pilot programme of weekly workshops using different imagery techniques (exercises) which we would teach remotely through a computer application like Zoom.
2) Recruit a group of 8 people to take part in the programme.
3) Gather feedback on the different exercises used through group discussion and simple questionnaires.
How will this research help?
We hope that this research will develop a useable tool that people living with vasculitis might use to manage distressing symptoms.