Writing About Experiences and Health in Older Adults II

UCLA researchers looking for healthy older adults (aged 65+) to participate in a study investigating how writing about experiences can affect your brain and body.

Once a week for 6 weeks, participants will write about their experiences and fill out online questionnaires. Participants will also come to the UCLA campus to complete a neuroimaging session (fMRI), provide a blood spot sample, and fill out questionnaires 2 times: once prior to the 6-week writing period and once immediately after the 6-week writing period.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Social Psychology
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Writing Intervention

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 200
• Phase: Phase 1

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Naomi Eisenberger, Ph.D.; Phone Number: 3108494330; Email: neisenbe@ucla.edu

Study Locations

• United States
  • California
    • Los Angeles, California, United States, 90095
      • Recruiting
      • Center for Cognitive Neuroscience
      • Contact: Naomi Eisenberger; Phone Number: 3108494330; Email: neisenbe@ucla.edu

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 65 years and older (Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Healthy adults age 65 years and older

Exclusion Criteria:

1. current smokers
2. active, uncontrolled medical disorders
3. chronic infection (e.g., Hepatitis C, HIV)
4. use of certain medications (steroid use, opioid use)
5. psychiatric disorders (e.g., current major depression, bipolar disorder)
6. body mass index (BMI) greater than 35
7. left-handed
8. claustrophobic
9. metal in body

Other exclusion criteria may apply.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Basic Science
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Triple

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Writing about Experiences; Participants will be asked to write about experiences with familiar individuals in their lives.	Behavioral: Writing Intervention; Participants will be asked to write about different kinds of experiences.
Placebo Comparator: Writing about Places; Participants will be asked to write about experiences with familiar places in their lives.	Behavioral: Writing Intervention; Participants will be asked to write about different kinds of experiences.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in Psychological Distress	Composite measure of depression, anxiety, stress (Beck Depression Inventory, Spielberger Trait Anxiety, and Perceived Stress Scale)	Baseline, 6 weeks, 10 weeks
Change in Social Support	measure of perceived social support (Social Provisions Scale)	Baseline, 6 weeks, 10 weeks
Change in Social Participation	measure of participation in social activities (Lifestyle Activities Questionnaire)	Baseline, 6 weeks, 10 weeks
Change in Inflammatory Gene Expression	changes in proinflammatory gene expression	Baseline, 6 weeks, 10 weeks
Change in Dorsal Anterior Cingulate Cortex (dACC) Activity in response to stress	Parameter estimates from dACC region-of-interest	Baseline, 6 weeks
Change in Anterior Insula Activity in response to stress	Parameter estimates from bilateral anterior insula region-of-interest	Baseline, 6 weeks
Change in Amygdala Activity in response to threat	Parameter estimates from bilateral amygdala region-of-interest	Baseline, 6 weeks
Change in Ventral Striatum Activity in response to prosocial behavior	Parameter estimates from bilateral ventral striatum region-of-interest	Baseline, 6 weeks
Change in Septal Area Activity in response to prosocial behavior	Parameter estimates from septal area region-of-interest	Baseline, 6 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in Memory	changes in recall ability (Montreal Cognitive Assessment Test)	Baseline, 6 weeks, 10 weeks
Change in Beliefs about Aging	changes in cognitive, affective, and social beliefs about aging (Expectations Regarding Aging survey)	Baseline, 6 weeks, 10 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of California, Los Angeles

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): March 13, 2023
• Primary Completion (Estimated): December 1, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): December 1, 2026

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: August 24, 2022
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 29, 2022
• First Posted (Actual): September 1, 2022

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): July 14, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 13, 2026
• Last Verified: July 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: R01AG071498 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

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
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No