Writing Activities and Emotions

NCT04539756 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: STUDY20060287
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 250
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The current study aims to test whether an online two-week positive psychological intervention can increase positive affect in college students. Participants will be recruited from the University of Pittsburgh undergraduate subject pool. Students will be ineligible if they are under the age of 18; currently prescribed medications for cardiac arrythmias; have a history of heart surgery, heart attack, or stroke; are currently pregnant; or currently have symptoms consistent with COVID-19. This study includes an active control arm and an intervention arm. Both arms will be required to complete writing activities every other day for two weeks. Participants in the control arm will list their daily activities, while participants in the intervention arm will complete various positive psychology activities. Questionnaires assessing mood, emotional well-being, social functioning and a few health behaviors will be administered pre- and post-intervention. The investigators aim to recruit 250 undergraduate students with the hope that at least 50 participants per group will complete the entire study.

Conditions

Healthy

Keywords

Positive Psychological Intervention; Wellbeing; Optimism

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (2)

• Change from baseline in positive affect at 1 week post-intervention

  Positive and Negative Affective Schedule (20-item). The possible range for this questionnaire is from 5 - 50. Baseline values will be subtracted from post-intervention values and a higher score on this measure represents a better outcome.

  Assessed twice, once before the intervention and a second time within one week of completing the intervention.

• Change from baseline in positive affect at 1 week post-intervention

  Positive Emotional Style Questionnaire. The possible range for this questionnaire is from 0 - 36. Baseline values will be subtracted from post-intervention values and a higher score on this measure represents a better outcome.

  Assessed twice, once before the intervention and a second time within one week of completing the intervention.

Secondary Outcomes (14)

• Change from baseline in optimism at 1 week post-intervention

  Assessed twice, once before the intervention and a second time within one week of completing the intervention.

• Change from baseline in life satisfaction at 1 week post-intervention

  Assessed twice, once before the intervention and a second time within one week of completing the intervention.

• Change from baseline in psychological well-being at 1 week post-intervention

  Assessed twice, once before the intervention and a second time within one week of completing the intervention.

• Change from baseline in perceived stress at 1 week post-intervention

  Assessed twice, once before the intervention and a second time within one week of completing the intervention.

• Change from baseline in perceived social support at 1 week post-intervention

  Assessed twice, once before the intervention and a second time within one week of completing the intervention.

Other Outcomes (8)

• Loneliness

  Assessed every other day, after participants complete each activity for up to 2 weeks.

• Connectedness

  Assessed every other day, after participants complete each activity for up to 2 weeks.

• Stress

  Assessed every other day, after participants complete each activity for up to 2 weeks.

Study Arms (2)

Active control condition

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

Participants in the active control condition will receive the same number of text message reminders and will complete the same number of writing activities as the intervention group. The writing activity for the active control condition will ask them to list their activities for that day.

Behavioral: Active control condition

Positive psychological intervention

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants will be asked to complete writing activities every other day. They will choose which activity they would like to complete each day, from a menu of six different activities. Each activity is a different positive psychology exercise.

Behavioral: positive psychological intervention

Interventions

positive psychological intervention BEHAVIORAL

Participants will be asked to complete writing activities every other day. They will choose which activity they would like to complete each day, from a menu of six different activities. Each activity is a different positive psychology exercise.

Also known as: Positive psychology exercises

Positive psychological intervention

Active control condition BEHAVIORAL

Participants will be asked to complete the same writing activity each day, which will ask them to list their daily activities. Participants will be encouraged to process their daily activities superficially by the receiving the following instructions: (1) list each activity in brief, incomplete sentences, (2) document only facts about performing the activities, and (3) to not provide any information about emotional responses to performing the activities. By following these instructions, participants are presumably deriving less meaning from their activities, which may minimize gains in positive affect in the active control condition

Also known as: placebo

Active control condition

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Must be an undergraduate student at the University of Pittsburgh that is currently taking Introduction to Psychology.
• Must be at least 18 years old
• Not currently prescribed medications for cardiac arrythmias
• Report no history of heart surgery, heart attack, or stroke
• Not currently pregnant
• Must deny having current symptoms consistent with COVID-19.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Pittsburgh: lead

Study Sites (1)

University of Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 15213, United States

Location

Study Officials

• Caitlin M DuPont, MS

  University of Pittsburgh

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT
• Purpose: BASIC SCIENCE
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Principal Investigator

Model Details: This is a two-arm parallel study, such that participants are assigned to either an active control group or intervention group.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: August 31, 2020
• First Posted: September 7, 2020
• Study Start: September 8, 2020
• Primary Completion: November 20, 2020
• Study Completion: November 20, 2020
• Last Updated: July 2, 2021

Record last verified: 2021-07

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

US (1)