Expressive Writing for COVID-19 Resilience for Parents

The purpose of this study is to determine the impact of a 4-week, virtually-delivered expressive writing intervention on resilience in a cohort of parents and caregivers currently navigating the COVID-19 pandemic during spring & summer of 2020.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Parents During COVID-19
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Expressive writing

Detailed Description

In 2016, the research team piloted a 6-week intervention on expressive writing for resilience in a population of trauma survivors. Participants self-identified as having had a recent trauma or significant life upheaval, such as a divorce, major illness, job loss, or the death of a loved one. At 6 weeks, the investigators found that participants experienced significantly improved levels of resilience and lower levels of stress, rumination, and depression. These results added to a growing body of research indicating the potential for expressive writing to be a powerful healing modality for both psychological and physical well-being.

The current COVID-19 pandemic presents the potential for trauma or significant life upheaval for nearly all members of the community and the world at large. Parents of children who are at home face unique challenges during this time. Social distancing guidelines, shelter in place protocols, school and business closures, travel restrictions, high levels of job loss, loss of childcare, and the looming threat of illness have disrupted daily routines, family life, and significantly altered life plans for many. Parents and caregivers who have unexpectedly lost childcare, are having to adjust to home schooling arrangements, and/or are having to end to heightened emotional needs in their children may experience this time as particularly difficult.

Resilience is the capacity for individuals to adapt and recover in the face of trauma, adversity, or significant sources of stress. The current collective reality magnifies the need for accessible, low-cost, effective interventions to help people cultivate resilience and other dimensions of psychological well-being.

In this study, the investigators seek to further the work the research team began in 2016 with a 4-week, virtually-delivered expressive writing intervention designed to support parents in cultivating personal resilience and emotional wellness during the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 11
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

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

Participation Criteria

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:

In order to have up to 40 evaluable subjects, we plan to consent up to 45 individuals. Potential subjects will be considered eligible if they are parents or primary caregivers of children aged 0-18 who have been home with them during the COVID-19 experience. Other eligibility criteria include:

• Able to speak, read, write, and understand English
• Cognitively able to provide consent
• Ability to participate in a 4-week intervention delivered via Zoom and email

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

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

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Intervention / Treatment

Experimental: Expressive writing; The 4-week study intervention will invite participants through a progression of expressive writing exercises designed to support emotional expression and enhance personal resilience. Weekly instruction writing sessions will be conducted via Zoom. The sessions will not be recorded, but participants who cannot attend the sessions live (or prefer not to, for any reason) will receive each week's instructions and prompts via email. The progression of writing exercises flows as follows: Week 1: Writing to expressive difficult emotions; Week 2: Writing to cultivate compassion & forgiveness; Week 3: Writing to nurture positive emotions; Week 4: Writing to invite insight, perspective, & growth

Behavioral: Expressive writing; The 4-week study intervention will invite participants through a progression of expressive writing exercises designed to support emotional expression and enhance personal resilience. Weekly instruction writing sessions will be conducted via Zoom. The sessions will not be recorded, but participants who cannot attend the sessions live (or prefer not to, for any reason) will receive each week's instructions and prompts via email. The progression of writing exercises flows as follows: Week 1: Writing to expressive difficult emotions; Week 2: Writing to cultivate compassion & forgiveness; Week 3: Writing to nurture positive emotions; Week 4: Writing to invite insight, perspective, & growth

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

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

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Perceived stress	Perceived Stress Scale-10 (PSS-10)	3 months
Depression symptoms	Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale Revised (CESDR)	3 months
Parental stress	Internal, non-validated questionnaire re. experience of parental stress	3 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Duke University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): May 27, 2020
• Primary Completion (Actual): August 2, 2020
• Study Completion (Actual): August 2, 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): November 24, 2021
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 16, 2021
• Last Verified: November 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Coronavirus Infections; Coronaviridae Infections; Nidovirales Infections; RNA Virus Infections; Virus Diseases; Infections; Respiratory Tract Infections; Respiratory Tract Diseases; Pneumonia, Viral; Pneumonia; Lung Diseases; COVID-19
• Other Study ID Numbers: Pro00105586

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