Writing About Disease: Effect on Rehabilitation?

Therapeutic writing about one's emotions has been described previously (J Pennebaker: Emotions, disclosure and health. Am Psychol. Assoc 1995). The present project will compare the effects (if any) of writing about the emotional versus the physical consequences of lung disease on anxiety, perceived quality of life, and perceived health status.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Asthma; COPD
• Intervention / Treatment: Procedure: writing about disease

Detailed Description

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients (age 35-70) and asthma patients (age 20-60) referred to a 4 weeks inpatient rehabilitation program - who agree to participate in the project - are randomly assigned to one of three conditions:

• Writing about emotional consequences of their disease before the program starts
• Writing about physical consequences of their disease before the program starts
• Not writing

All patients are measured (completing questionnaires at home) on: perceived quality of life, perceived health status and trait anxiety - 2 weeks before the program, 2 weeks after the program and 6 months after the program. FEV1 and 6 min walking distance are measured at the beginning and by the end of the program.

In addition to questionnaires, all patients are asked to:

• Write in their own words ( 2 weeks after) to evaluate their stay at the rehabilitation clinic; and
• Write in their own words (6 months after) about how the disease affects their life at that point.

Both quantitative and qualitative data will be used for analysis purposes.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Anticipated): 180
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Norway
  • Akershus
    • Hakadal, Akershus, Norway, 1485
      • Glittreklinikken

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 20 years to 70 years (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Clinical diagnosis of COPD (age between 35 and 70)
• Clinical diagnosis of asthma (age between 20 and 60)

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Time Frame
Quality of life	prospective
Perceived health status	prospective
Trait anxiety	prospective

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Time Frame
Forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1)	prospective
6-minute walking distance	prospective

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: LHL Helse
• Collaborators: The norwegian association for heart and lung patients
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Einar Haave, Cand Psychol, LHL Helse

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: December 1, 2005
• Study Completion (Actual): December 1, 2007

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: November 9, 2005
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 9, 2005
• First Posted (Estimate): November 10, 2005

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimate): May 7, 2009
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 6, 2009
• Last Verified: May 1, 2009

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: QoL; asthma; copd; Perceived health status; Trait anxiety
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Respiratory Tract Diseases; Immune System Diseases; Lung Diseases; Hypersensitivity, Immediate; Bronchial Diseases; Lung Diseases, Obstructive; Respiratory Hypersensitivity; Hypersensitivity; Asthma
• Other Study ID Numbers: G22-1