Does carer psychological inflexibility moderate the relationship between Motor Neurone Disease symptomatology and carer anticipatory grief emotions?

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 supportive interventions. Two moderation analyses with 75 carers (UK = 70, USA = 5) were conducted. The first analysis found that while MND disease severity (ALSFRS-R) and psychological inflexibility (AAQ-II) were associated with AG (MMCGI-SF), psychological inflexibility did not moderate this relationship. Similarly, the second analysis revealed that while behavioural changes (MiND-B) and psychological inflexibility influenced AG, the interaction between them was not significant. These findings suggest that although psychological inflexibility does not moderate the relationship between MND symptoms and carer AG, it may still impact carers’ emotional distress, highlighting the need to address this in interventions. Clinical implications are discussed.