Immigrants
Conditions
Keywords
Best Possible Self, Positive Psychology, Romanian Immigrants, Optimism, Future Thinking
Brief summary
This study aims to test the efficacy of an intervention focused on promoting positive emotions (Best Possible Self - BPS) to improve the psychological wellbeing of Romanian immigrants living in Spain. It is hypothesized that the BPS intervention will significantly improve a series of positive mental health outcomes, i.e., optimism, future expectancies, and affect, compared to the Control group.
Detailed description
Previous studies have shown that groups of immigrants may face a series of problems unique to the process of immigration, such as working, legal, social, and mental and physical health problems. BPS is a guided imagery exercise that requires participants to envision themselves in the future, achieving desired goals in different areas of their lives. This exercise has shown efficacy improving optimism, future expectancies and positive affect compared to a control condition, in general population. Taking into account the prior literature, the aim of the present study is to carry out a randomized controlled study in order to replicate the findings about the effects of BPS on optimism, mood and affect in an immigrant population. The design employed in this study is similar to the used in other studies.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALBest Possible Self
BEHAVIORALDaily Activities
Sponsors
Universitat Jaume I
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
SINGLE (Subject)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* Romanian immigrant in Spain * Sign a consent form stating their willingness to participate
Exclusion criteria
* Presence of severe physical illness * Presence of severe psychological disorder * Be currently involved in another psychological treatment
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Subjective Probability Task | 1 month | This scale measures positive and negative expectancies about future events. It consists of 20 statements referring to negative expectancies and 10 statements referring to positive expectancies. Participants answer on a 7-point scale (Not at all likely to occur - Extremely likely to occur). Some studies have found an appropriate levels of internal consistency for positive and negative expectancies (α=0.80-0.82 and 0.91, respectively) |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Dysfunctional Attitudes Scale | 1 month | — |
| Hope Scale | 1 month | — |
| Quality of Life Index | 1 month | It consists of 10 items that evaluate perceived well-being in different areas (physical, psychological/emotional, occupational functioning, interpersonal functioning, among others) |
| Ryff Scales of Psychological Well-Being | 1 month | — |
| Positive and Negative Affect Scale | 1 month | This measure analyzes the levels of positive (PA) and negative affect (NA). The instrument consists of 20 items, 10 for each level of affect. Participants rate on a 5-point scale (Not at all - Extremely). |
| Beck Depression Inventory II | 1 month | This is one of the most widely questionnaires used to evaluate severity of depression in pharmacological and psychotherapy trials. The instrument has good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha of 0.76 to 0.95) and test-retest reliability of around 0.8. |
| Overall Anxiety Severity and Impairment Scale | 1 month | OASIS is a brief instrument consisting of 5 items that measure the frequency and severity of anxiety, as well as the level of avoidance and work/school/home and social interference that anxiety produces. |
| Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale | 1 month | — |
| Life Orientation Test | 1 month | This scale measures positive and negative expectancies about future events. It consists of 20 statements referring to negative expectancies and 10 statements referring to positive expectancies. Participants answer on a 7-point scale (Not at all likely to occur - Extremely likely to occur). Some studies have found an appropriate levels of internal consistency for positive and negative expectancies (α=0.80-0.82 and 0.91, respectively). |
Other
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Social Support | baseline | This scale is an adapted version of the questionnaire designed by Gonzalez-Castro and Ubillos (2011). This questionnaire measures the social support received from other Romanians in Spain and from the Spanish people, in three areas: tangible social support (support in leisure activities), emotional support (care, love) and informational and instrumental support (help in addressing problems). In addition, the questionnaire measures the support received from those who live in the country of origin of the immigrant (1 = never receives support, 4 = receives a lot of support). |
| Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Discrimination | baseline | This scale is made up of 20 items that measure four aspects of perceived discrimination: blatant group discrimination, subtle group discrimination, blatant individual discrimination and subtle individual discrimination. |
| Self Concordance Motivation | baseline | This questionnaire assess extrinsic and intrinsic motivation to practice the imagery exercise, rated on a 9-point scale ranging from 1 not at all for this reason to 9 completely for this reason. SCM has been correlated withparticipants' frequency of practicing a daily imagery exercise and with self-reported imagery performance, a key aspect in self-applied interventions. |
Countries
Spain
Contacts
Primary ContactCristina Botella, PhD
Backup ContactAndreea M Dragomir-Davis, MA
Outcome results
None listed