Our researchers on IBD-BOOST and how you can get involved

What problem is the research hoping to solve?

Throughout periods of flaring and remission, many people experience daily symptoms without a clear explanation as to why they have these or how to best manage them. This can understandably have a huge effect on their emotional and physical wellbeing. While medication can be helpful for treating many aspects of Crohn’s and Colitis, drugs aren’t always effective in helping people with the day to day, long-term management of these symptoms.

We know that people want help with these symptoms, but don’t necessarily want to attend multiple, separate hospital appointments. We hope that IBD-BOOST will provide a better understanding of fatigue, pain, and urgency/incontinence, and effective ways to manage these.

So, what is IBD-BOOST?

IBD-BOOST is a series of projects funded by the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) to research these three specific symptoms of Crohn’s and Colitis. They include a survey, a medical checklist study and a randomised controlled trial that tests the effects of an online, tailored self-management programme. This particular study is guided by principles of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT).

The purpose of the survey is to find out how many people with Crohn’s or Colitis experience fatigue, pain and urgency, as well as how many of these want help managing these symptoms. For the trial, we are exploring whether CBT could support people to develop a range of strategies that help minimise the impact of these symptoms. This might include developing techniques to improve sleep, maintain consistent levels of activity, and manage stressful feelings or thoughts that may understandably arise from having living with Crohn's or Colitis. We know that these can all affect symptoms like fatigue, pain and urgency from research carried out on other long-term conditions.

Tell us a bit about the project so far.

We have worked closely with people living with Crohn’s and Colitis every step of the way in this research, including when we were developing the intervention. Their feedback and pilot testing were an invaluable help. Since starting the programme, we have recruited over 6,000 people into our survey and over 400 into our trial so far. We are keen to invite anyone with Crohn’s or Colitis to take part in our survey so that we can understand as much as we can about these symptoms. 

Who can take part?

Please note that as of 31st July 2022, recruitment to this study has now closed so you cannot now take part. If you have any questions, please do feel free to contact the research team at ibd-boost@kcl.ac.uk and/or 020 7848 3318.

Meet the team

Professor Rona Moss-Morris

Intervention development lead

Laura Miller

Programme manager

Dr Louise Sweeney

Research associate

Imogen Stagg

Research nurse

Serena McGuinness

Research assistant

If you have any questions please feel free to get in touch with us at ibd-boost@kcl.ac.uk or call 0207 848 3318. Our research team will be happy to help.