Expressive Writing To Combat Distress Associated With The COVID-19 Pandemic In People With Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Expressive/gratitude writing intervention – This group will participate in the adapted evidenced-based 4-day writing program (Pennebaker 1997). Participants will meet with the facilitator (a researcher with a Psychology degree) using Zoom / over the phone or will access a recording of the intervention (if the time difference makes a Zoom/phone session impractical) in a group format four times in one week for approx. 30 minutes (25 minutes of writing time). Daily e-mail reminders will be sent during the 4 days of writing. Session structure – 1 min to complete the distress VAS measure (before), 5 minutes write any reflection from last session, 15 minutes spent writing about your thoughts and feelings, 5 minutes writing about the things you are grateful for, 1 min to complete the distress VAS measure (after). The instruction each day will be (adapted from Pennebaker): “Please write about your thoughts and feelings about your IBD and the recent situation with COVID-19. Try to select something that you had a strong reaction to – perhaps this was a thought that was challenging or unpleasant. Feel free to really let go and explore your very deepest emotions and thoughts. You might tie your topic to your relationships with others, including parents, lovers, friends or relatives, to your past, your present, your future, or to who you have been, who you would like to be, or who you are now. All of your writing will be completely confidential. Please don’t worry about spelling, sentence structure, or grammar. Feel free to type or write by hand.” Participants will not be asked to share their writing with the study investigators, to ensure free expression.