Anxiety, Stress, Psychological
Conditions
Keywords
Expressive Writing, Written Emotional Expression, Caregiver Stress, Cognition
Brief summary
The purpose of this study is to determine if expressive writing is an effective intervention for reducing stress, enhancing cognition, and improving quality of life for caregivers of older adults with dementia
Detailed description
A significant and growing need exists to support caregivers of older adults with dementia, including methods of support that are easily implemented and targeted at caregivers who can not access multicomponent interventions. The current intervention examines the efficacy of one such approach: expressive writing (EW). We are examining the efficacy of EW, in terms of its ability to reduce stress, enhance cognition, and improve well-being, by comparing it to two control conditions: objective writing about how caregivers spend their time (time management; TM) and objective writing about non-personal historical events (history writing; HW).
Interventions
BEHAVIORALExpressive Writing
Sponsors
Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care
University of Toronto
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* Primary family caregiver for an older adult with dementia * Self-reported caregiver stress or burden * Fluency in written/spoken English
Exclusion criteria
* non-family or non-primary caregiver * existing use of expressive writing / diary
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| General Health Questionnaire | — |
| Impact of Events Scale | — |
| Zarit Burden Interview (short form) | — |
| California Verbal Learning Test | — |
| Ruff 2 & 7 Selective Attention Test | — |
| Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) | — |
Countries
Canada
Outcome results
None listed