Cognitive and Health Benefits of Expressive Writing for Family Caregivers Under Stress

March 14, 2006 updated by: University of Toronto
The purpose of this study is to determine if expressive writing is an effective intervention for reducing stress, enhancing cognition, and improving quality of life for caregivers of older adults with dementia

Study Overview

Status

Unknown

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

A significant and growing need exists to support caregivers of older adults with dementia, including methods of support that are easily implemented and targeted at caregivers who can not access multicomponent interventions. The current intervention examines the efficacy of one such approach: expressive writing (EW).

We are examining the efficacy of EW, in terms of its ability to reduce stress, enhance cognition, and improve well-being, by comparing it to two control conditions: objective writing about how caregivers spend their time (time management; TM) and objective writing about non-personal historical events (history writing; HW).

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment

120

Phase

  • Phase 1

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Canada
    • Ontario
      • Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5S 1V6
        • University of Toronto

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Primary family caregiver for an older adult with dementia
  • Self-reported caregiver stress or burden
  • Fluency in written/spoken English

Exclusion Criteria:

  • non-family or non-primary caregiver
  • existing use of expressive writing / diary

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

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

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
General Health Questionnaire
Impact of Events Scale
Zarit Burden Interview (short form)
California Verbal Learning Test
Ruff 2 & 7 Selective Attention Test
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University of Toronto

Collaborators

Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Corey S Mackenzie, Ph.D., University of Toronto
  • Principal Investigator: Lynn Hasher, Ph.D., University of Toronto
  • Principal Investigator: David Goldstein, Ph.D., University of Toronto

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

May 1, 2003

Study Completion

July 1, 2005

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

March 14, 2006

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 14, 2006

First Posted (Estimate)

March 15, 2006

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

March 15, 2006

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 14, 2006

Last Verified

March 1, 2006

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 11438

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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