Self-Compassionate Writing for Caregivers of Older Adults

Online Intervention Using Self-Compassionate Writing to Induce Positive Mood in Family Caregivers of Older Adults

The goal of this study was to test an online writing intervention to encourage a self-compassionate mindset in family caregivers of older adults. The main aims were to answer the questions:

• Writing with self-compassion would increase self-compassion.
• Writing with self-compassion would improve mood. Researchers compared self-compassion components (self-kindness, which involves a gentle and non-judgemental approach to oneself at times of difficulty; common humanity, which includes recognising one's difficulties as part of a shared human experience; mindfulness, which includes noticing difficult feelings without becoming overwhelmed by them) to see which combinations achieved the best outcomes.

Participants wrote with different combinations of self-compassion components together, such as mindfulness and common humanity or mindfulness and self-kindness. Participants also wrote with self-kindness, common humanity, or mindfulness separately.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Control; Self-Compassion
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Self-Compassionate Writing for Caregivers of Older Adults

Detailed Description

After being informed and consenting to participate in the study, participants were allocated to a self-compassion or control condition. The study was designed to target state self-compassion and mood. The research was carried out over three studies, with refinements being made each time based on previous outcomes. In Studies 1 and 2, participants were tested for self-compassion and mood (guilt, sadness, and serenity). after the writing tasks. In Study 3, participants were asked to complete measures for these both before and after the writing tasks. The experiments were carried out online for all three studies.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 652
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United Kingdom
  • Berkshire
    • Reading, Berkshire, United Kingdom, RG6 6AL
      • University of Reading

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Family carer.
• Caring for a person over 65 years of age.
• Participants over 18 years of age.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Professional carers.
• Caring person under 65 years of age.
• Participants under 18 years of age.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

11

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Placebo Comparator: Control; Descriptive writing.	Behavioral: Self-Compassionate Writing for Caregivers of Older Adults; Self-compassionate writing focusing on one or more self-compassion components (mindfulness, self-kindness, common humanity).
Active Comparator: Mindfulness; Writing with mindfulness.	Behavioral: Self-Compassionate Writing for Caregivers of Older Adults; Self-compassionate writing focusing on one or more self-compassion components (mindfulness, self-kindness, common humanity).
Active Comparator: Mindfulness with Self-Kindness; Writing with mindfulness and self-kindness.	Behavioral: Self-Compassionate Writing for Caregivers of Older Adults; Self-compassionate writing focusing on one or more self-compassion components (mindfulness, self-kindness, common humanity).
Active Comparator: Mindfulness with Common Humanity; Writing with mindfulness and common humanity.	Behavioral: Self-Compassionate Writing for Caregivers of Older Adults; Self-compassionate writing focusing on one or more self-compassion components (mindfulness, self-kindness, common humanity).
Placebo Comparator: Control with Timed Response; Descriptive writing.	Behavioral: Self-Compassionate Writing for Caregivers of Older Adults; Self-compassionate writing focusing on one or more self-compassion components (mindfulness, self-kindness, common humanity).
Active Comparator: Mindfulness with Timed Response; Writing with mindfulness.	Behavioral: Self-Compassionate Writing for Caregivers of Older Adults; Self-compassionate writing focusing on one or more self-compassion components (mindfulness, self-kindness, common humanity).
Active Comparator: Self-Kindness with Timed Response; Writing with self-kindness.	Behavioral: Self-Compassionate Writing for Caregivers of Older Adults; Self-compassionate writing focusing on one or more self-compassion components (mindfulness, self-kindness, common humanity).
Active Comparator: Common Humanity with Timed Response; Writing with common humanity.	Behavioral: Self-Compassionate Writing for Caregivers of Older Adults; Self-compassionate writing focusing on one or more self-compassion components (mindfulness, self-kindness, common humanity).
Placebo Comparator: Revised Control; Descriptive writing.	Behavioral: Self-Compassionate Writing for Caregivers of Older Adults; Self-compassionate writing focusing on one or more self-compassion components (mindfulness, self-kindness, common humanity).
Active Comparator: Self-Compassion; Writing with mindfulness, self-kindness, and common humanity.	Behavioral: Self-Compassionate Writing for Caregivers of Older Adults; Self-compassionate writing focusing on one or more self-compassion components (mindfulness, self-kindness, common humanity).
Active Comparator: Self-Compassion Without Mindfulness; Writing with self-kindness and common humanity.	Behavioral: Self-Compassionate Writing for Caregivers of Older Adults; Self-compassionate writing focusing on one or more self-compassion components (mindfulness, self-kindness, common humanity).

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Self-kindness measured with the State Self-Compassion Scale (Neff et al., 2021)	Scores closer to 5 expected on a scale of 1 to 5	State measured immediately after intervention
Common humanity measured with the State Self-Compassion Scale (Neff et al., 2021)	Scores closer to 5 expected on a scale of 1 to 5	State measured immediately after intervention
Mindfulness measured with the State Self-Compassion Scale (Neff et al., 2021)	Scores closer to 5 expected on a scale of 1 to 5	State measured immediately after intervention

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Guilt measured using the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (Watson and Clark, 1999)	Scores closer to 1 expected on a scale of 1 to 5	State measured immediately after intervention
Sadness measured using the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (Watson and Clark, 1999)	Scores closer to 1 expected on a scale of 1 to 5	State measured immediately after intervention
Serenity measured using the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (Watson and Clark, 1999)	Scores closer to 5 expected on a scale of 1 to 5	State measured immediately after intervention

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Farah Wiita
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Aileen K Ho, PhD, University of Reading

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Neff, K. D., Tóth-Király, I., Knox, M. C., Kuchar, A., & Davidson, O. (2021). The development and validation of the state self-compassion scale (long-and short form). Mindfulness, 12, 121-140.
• Watson, David & Clark, Lee. (1999). The PANAS-X: Manual for the positive and negative affect schedule-expanded form. Psychology Publications.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): February 18, 2022
• Primary Completion (Actual): November 15, 2022
• Study Completion (Actual): November 15, 2022

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: July 5, 2024
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 12, 2024
• First Posted (Actual): July 18, 2024

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): July 18, 2024
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 12, 2024
• Last Verified: July 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Mindfulness; Self-compassion; Self-kindness; Common humanity
• Other Study ID Numbers: 2021-193-AH

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: YES
• IPD Plan Description: Anonymised data to be made available on OSF.
• IPD Sharing Time Frame: Data will become available on publication of the research report. It will be made available for 5 years.
• IPD Sharing Access Criteria: Access permitted under the conditions of the informed consent agreement.
• IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type: SAP; ICF; ANALYTIC_CODE; CSR

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No