King's College London

This is a non-commercial randomised controlled trial that aims to determine the efficacy of a 12-week virtual peer-to-peer support programme on informal caregiver psychological health and caregiver burden.

Those participants randomised to the intervention arm will have access to a 12-week virtual peer-to-peer support programme.

We will collect the following caregiver outcome measures at baseline and on completion of the 12-week programme:

1. Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS)
2. Positive and Negative Affect Schedule
3. Zarit Burden Interview
4. Pearlin Mastery Scale
5. Personal Gain Scale
6. Brief COPE.

In addition, we will collect the following endpoints on completion of the 12-week programme from intervention participants only:

1. One item 9-point Likert on the usability of the peer-to-peer support programme host platform aTouchAway
2. Usage metrics
3. Semi-structured qualitative interview data on the acceptability of the peer-to-peer support programme.

Those participants randomised to the control arm will receive usual care which comprises self-directed access to the MND Association Visitors programme and MND Association educational resources via their website. Participants will be asked to complete questionnaires at baseline and at 12 weeks.