Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2
Conditions
Keywords
Prevention, Psychology, Self-Management
Brief summary
The purpose of this study is to examine how the 'Best Possible Self' (BPS) intervention influences diabetes symptomatology over a four week period by assessing stress and resilience as mediatory effects. Half of the participants will receive the BPS straight away while the other half will be put on a waiting list and will act as the control group.
Detailed description
The BPS is a positive psychology intervention; i.e. it facilitates positive emotion in order to achieve psychological, behavioural, and even physiological changes. The present team's previous research has demonstrated that the BPS is effective at reducing certain diabetes symptoms, though the exact mechanisms by which it does so are unclear. According to the Stress Buffering Model of Physical Activity, psychological stress is the catalyst that triggers behavioural and physiological responses critical to health while positive emotions can improve health by helping people to cope. The Broaden and Build Theory of Positive Emotions, meanwhile, suggests that this is because positive emotions allow people to build resilience. In this study, the aim is to examine whether stress and resilience in particular mediate the relationship between intervention and diabetes symptoms. Research around stress and resilience has shown these factors to be important not only in the physical health of people with diabetes but for also decreasing illness symptomatology in non-clinical samples more generally.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALBest Possible Self
A writing exercise developed in 2001 by Laura King. The frequency of engagement with the exercise is down to the user's discretion though we recommend to them to write things down once every week for the duration of the study.
Sponsors
Liverpool John Moores University
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
DOUBLE (Subject, Investigator)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* Non-clinical sample * 18+ * Access to the internet
Exclusion criteria
* Severe mental illness (such as schizophrenia or bipolar depression)
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Diabetes Symptomatology (assessed using the Diabetes Symptoms Checklist - Revised) | Four Weeks | Subscales assess the existence of, and the distress caused by, fatigue, cognitive, pain, sensory, cardiology, ophthalmology, hypoglycaemia, and hyperglycaemia symptoms individually. For each sub-scale, participants can score between 0 and 5, with a lower score meaning fewer symptoms and less distress caused by that subset of symptoms. Subscales do not come together to create a total symptomatology score. |
Other
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Self-Reported Resilience (assessed using the Six-Item Brief Resilience Scale) | Four Weeks | Mediatory Effect. Responses are added up to give a score between 6 and 30. The total sum is then divided by 6 (the number of questions). A higher score indicates a higher level of resilience. |
| Self-Reported Stress (assessed using the Perceived Stress Scale) | Four weeks | Mediatory Effect. Individual scores are added up and can range from 0-40. A higher score means that the individuals perceives themselves to be more stressed. |
| Diabetes Risk (calculated using the Canadian Diabetes Risk Questionnaire) | Four Weeks | Control Variable. A total risk score is assessed by summing up the scores of each of the 12 questions. Scores range from 0-87. A lower score indicates less risk. Participants with a score of \< 21 are low risk, participants with a score of 21 - 32 are medium risk, and participants with a score of \>32 are high risk. |
Countries
United Kingdom
Outcome results
None listed