Cognitive and Health Benefits of Expressive Writing for Family Caregivers Under Stress

Anxiety Clinical Trial

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Active, not recruiting

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT00303147
• Other study ID #: 11438
• Status: Active, not recruiting
• Phase: Phase 1
• First received: March 14, 2006
• Last updated: March 14, 2006
• Start date: May 2003
• Est. completion date: July 2005

Study information

• Verified date: March 2006
• Source: University of Toronto
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Health authority: Canada: Ethics Review Committee
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial 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

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).

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Active, not recruiting
• Enrollment: 120
• Est. completion date: July 2005
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: Both
• Age group: 18 Years and older

Eligibility

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

Study Design

Allocation: Randomized, Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment, Masking: Open Label, Primary Purpose: Treatment

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Anxiety
• Stress, Psychological

Intervention

Behavioral:
• Expressive Writing

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
Canada	University of Toronto	Toronto	Ontario

Sponsors (2)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
University of Toronto	Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care

Country where clinical trial is conducted

Canada, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	General Health Questionnaire
Primary	Impact of Events Scale
Primary	Zarit Burden Interview (short form)
Primary	California Verbal Learning Test
Primary	Ruff 2 & 7 Selective Attention Test
Primary	Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)