Expressive Writing for COVID-19 Resilience

October 14, 2020 updated by: Duke University
The purpose of this study is to determine the impact of a 6-week, virtually-delivered expressive writing intervention on resilience in a cohort of individuals currently navigating the COVID-19 pandemic during spring 2020.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

The purpose of this study is to determine the impact of a 6-week, virtually-delivered expressive writing intervention on resilience in a cohort of individuals currently navigating the COVID-19 pandemic during spring 2020.

Eligible subjects will be adults who are able to read and write in English and are cognitively able to provide informed consent. Potential subjects will be recruited through the Duke Health & Well-Being email lists. The entirely virtual 6-week expressive writing intervention will be delivered via Zoom, REDCap, and email, and subjects will complete measures at baseline, 6 weeks, and 10 weeks (1 month post-intervention). Each week of the intervention will invite participants to complete a series of expressive writing assignments designed to support emotional expression and cultivate resilience, and the assignments will take approximately 60-90 minutes each week to complete.

The primary outcome is the 25-item Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC). Other measures will include a basic demographics survey, questions about COVID-19 impact, post-writing surveys collected after the writing assignments, the 10-item Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale-Revised, and the 21-item Post -Traumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI). Participants will also have the option to share the content of their writing assignments with the research team if they choose.

The risks of participation in this study are minimal and include the risk of mild sadness after the writing assignments and the risk of loss of confidentiality.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

63

Phase

  • Not Applicable

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

  • United States
    • North Carolina
      • Durham, North Carolina, United States, 27705
        • Duke Integrative Medicine

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

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

Potential subjects will be considered eligible if they feel they have been personally impacted by circumstances surrounding COVID-19. Other eligibility criteria include:

  • Able to speak, read, write, and understand English
  • Cognitively able to provide consent
  • Ability to participate in a 6-week intervention delivered via Zoom, REDCap, and email

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: Supportive Care
  • Allocation: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Expressive writing

The expressive writing intervention consists of a 6-week, virtually-delivered writing program. Each week, participants meet for 90 minutes via Zoom and will be guided through writing prompts designed to encourage emotional expression and enhance personal resilience. The progression of writing exercises flows as follows:

  • Week 1: Writing to expressive difficult emotions
  • Week 2: Writing to release & integrate difficult emotions
  • Week 3: Writing to nurture gratitude
  • Week 4: Writing to enhance strengths & resources
  • Week 5: Writing to cultivate positive meaning & savor goodness
  • Week 6: Writing to invite insight, perspective, & growth
Behavioral: Expressive writing

The expressive writing intervention consists of a 6-week, virtually-delivered writing program. Each week, participants meet for 90 minutes via Zoom and will be guided through writing prompts designed to encourage emotional expression and enhance personal resilience. The progression of writing exercises flows as follows:

  • Week 1: Writing to expressive difficult emotions
  • Week 2: Writing to release & integrate difficult emotions
  • Week 3: Writing to nurture gratitude
  • Week 4: Writing to enhance strengths & resources
  • Week 5: Writing to cultivate positive meaning & savor goodness
  • Week 6: Writing to invite insight, perspective, & growth

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Resilience
Time Frame: 3 months
Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC)
3 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Perceived stress
Time Frame: 3 months
Perceived Stress Scale-10 (PSS10)
3 months
Depression symptoms
Time Frame: 3 months
Center for Epidemiologic Studies Scale - Revised (CESDR)
3 months
Post-traumatic growth
Time Frame: 3 months
Post Traumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI)
3 months

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Duke University

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

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 (Actual)

May 26, 2020

Primary Completion (Actual)

August 17, 2020

Study Completion (Actual)

August 17, 2020

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

October 12, 2020

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

October 14, 2020

First Posted (Actual)

October 19, 2020

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

October 19, 2020

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

October 14, 2020

Last Verified

October 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • Pro00105575

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

No

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

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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