None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
This study aims to compare the effectiveness of two body image writing interventions in increasing body appreciation in female cancer populations. Who can participate? You may be eligible to participate in this study if you are a female aged 18 years and older, who has a history of a cancer diagnosis, or a current cancer diagnosis. What will participation involve? The study will be completed online via Qualtrics. Participants will be randomly allocated to one of three writing interventions, which may take up to 30 minutes to complete. Participants may be randomly allocated to either; a) writing about appreciating the functions of your body, b) writing about your cancer experience in a caring and supportive way, or c) writing about different rooms in your house as though you were explaining it to someone who has never seen it before. Measures will be taken directly before the writing session, directly after the writing session, one-week later, and two-weeks later. It is hoped that this study will help diversify the range of interventions available for female cancer survivors. In addition, this study may provide important information regarding which intervention is best tailored to target body image distress.
Interventions
The two interventions which will be examined include My Changed Body (Sherman et al., 208) and Expand Your Horizon (Alleva et al., 2016). In both intervention conditions, participants will spend up to 30 minutes completing a writing exercise.
In the My Changed Body intervention, participants will first be asked to recall and write about a distressing event following their cancer diagnosis. Next, participants will be guided by five self-compassionate prompts, which will first involve focusing o
The two interventions which will be examined include My Changed Body (Sherman et al., 208) and Expand Your Horizon (Alleva et al., 2016). In both intervention conditions, participants will spend up to 30 minutes completing a writing exercise. In the My Changed Body intervention, participants will first be asked to recall and write about a distressing event following their cancer diagnosis. Next, participants will be guided by five self-compassionate prompts, which will first involve focusing on how their body has changed since their cancer diagnosis, before moving to a broad self-compassionate perspective in which they show kindness to their experience the same way they would to a friend in a similar situation. Participants will then write about ways in which other female cancer survivors may have similar experiences, before moving on to examine their feelings using a bigger perspective and putting space between the event and their reactions. Participants will finish the writing exercise by writing a self-compassionate letter to themselves. The intervention will consist of a single session of up to 30 minutes writing duration. In the Expand Your Horizon condition, participants will be introduced to the concept of body functionality by reading a short description describing the meaning of body functionality, and by being provided with examples of different types of body functions. Participants will then be guided through the writing exercise by six writing prompts which will focus on different components of body functionality. Participants will be asked to reflect on and to write about the importance of each body function to them. Examples of relevant body functions will be provided for each writing prompt. The intervention will consist of a single session of up to 30 minutes writing duration. The writing tasks’ content will also be analysed for this study to ensure participants are writing in accordance with the intervention instructions. In addition, the word count of each writing task will be captured to measure participant engagement. The study will be conducted online using Qualtrics. As such, participants will be free to choose which location they wish to complete the study in.
Sponsors
Flinders University
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Treatment
Masking
Open (masking not used)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
Female cancer survivors 18 years and older with a previous or current cancer diagnosis, who are proficient in English, and who have access to the internet and a working email address.
Exclusion criteria
None
Outcome results
None listed