Stress
Conditions
Brief summary
In this study the investigators plan to recruit 70 patients reporting high levels of stress to test the impact of Positive Affect Journaling. Patients randomized to use the online intervention will be asked to journal about one of seven topics, several days each week, for three months. The topics (e.g., What went well) are designed to help the individual focus on some positive aspect of their life or themselves over the past day. Each topic is based on prompts shown to be effective in studies of up to one week in duration. In the summer of 2012, our research team pilot tested each prompt with 20 patients with high levels of anxiety, which led to important changes to the prompts, to increase their potential impact. The main aim is to understand the impact of Positive Affect Journaling on psychological distress, as measured by the National Health Interview Survey.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALPositive Affect Journaling
Sponsors
Penn State University
Milton S. Hershey Medical Center
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
21 Years to 80 Years
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* Fluently speaks, writes, and read English * Report elevated levels of stress * Be between 21-80 years of age * Have access to the Internet * Have an ECOG Performance Status of 0 (Fully active) through 3 (Limited self-care)
Exclusion criteria
* High risk for suicidality on the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM Disorders (SCID). * Pregnant or planning to get pregnant in the next 3 months * Moving in the next 6 months
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| National Health Interview Survey | 3 month follow up | The NHIS measures perceived levels of stress over the past 12 months. |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Perceived Stress Scale | 3 month follow up | The PSS consists of 10 items that assess perceived stress. The items are scored on a 4-point scale (45). The measure demonstrates strong internal consistency with a Cronbach's alpha of .88 |
| Satisfaction with Life scale | 3 month follow up | The SWL is a five-item scale that assesses overall life satisfaction. The SWL has a 2-month test-retest reliability of 0.82 and a Cronbach's alpha of 0.87 |
| Social Provisions Scale | 3 month follow up | The SPS assesses the extent to which one perceives their social relationships to be supportive. This 24-item measure has a Cronbach's alpha of 0.91 |
| Brief Resilience Scale | 3 month follow up | The BRS is a 6-item self-report measure of perceived resilience, including items such as It does not take me long to recover from a stressful event The BRS has high levels of internal consistency, with Cronbach's alpha ranging from .80-.91 |
| Positive and Negative Affect Schedule score | 3 month follow up | The 20-item PANAS consists of two subscales, in which respondents indicate the extent to which they felt specific positive and negative emotions over a specific time frame. Internal consistencies are high (Crohnbach's alpha = 0.85-0.88) |
| Cancer Quality of Life | 3 month follow up | The EORTC QLQ-C30 is a questionnaire developed to assess the quality of life of cancer patients. |
| Healthy Days score | 3 month follow up | Created by the Centers for Disease Control, this measure assesses the number of days of poor mental health, physical health, poor sleep and other symptoms, as well as overall health |
Countries
United States
Outcome results
None listed