Writing About Experiences and Health in Older Adults

Social Psychology Clinical Trial

Official title:

Writing About Experiences and Health in Older Adults

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT02472379
• Other study ID #: GEN
• Secondary ID: F31AG048668UL1TR
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• First received: June 10, 2015
• Last updated: May 1, 2017
• Start date: October 2015
• Est. completion date: March 2017

Study information

• Verified date: May 2017
• Source: University of California, Los Angeles
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

UCLA researchers looking for healthy females (age 60+) to participate in a study investigating how writing about your experiences may be related to your health.

Once a week for 6 weeks, participants will write about their experiences and fill out online questionnaires. Participants will also come to the UCLA campus for blood draws and to fill out questionnaires 3 times: once prior to the 6-week writing period, once immediately after the 6-week period, and once 2-months after the writing period.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 78
• Est. completion date: March 2017
• Est. primary completion date: January 2017
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: Female
• Age group: 60 Years to 100 Years

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Healthy adults 60 years and older

Exclusion Criteria:

• Following a structured telephone interview, participants with the following conditions will not be able to participate:

1. current smokers

2. active, uncontrolled medical disorders

3. chronic infection (e.g., Hepatitis C, HIV)

4. use of certain medications (e.g., hypnotic and psychotropic medication, steroid use, opioid use)

5. psychiatric disorders (e.g., current major depression, bipolar disorder)

6. body mass index (BMI) greater than 35

Other exclusion criteria may apply.

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Social Psychology

Intervention

Behavioral:
• Writing: Group 1
Writing about experiences with familiar individuals in their lives, once a week for 6 weeks.

Other:
• Writing: Group 2
Writing about experiences with familiar places, once a week for 6 weeks.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
United States	UCLA Clinical & Translational Research Center (CTRC)	Los Angeles	California

Sponsors (2)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
University of California, Los Angeles	National Institute on Aging (NIA)

Country where clinical trial is conducted

United States, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Inflammatory activity	Changes in proinflammatory cytokine and proinflammatory gene expression from blood draws	baseline, post 6-week writing period, 2-months post-writing period
Primary	Health and well-being (self-report)	Changes in self-report measures of health (e.g., pain, sleep) and well-being (e.g., social support, depression)	baseline, post 6-week writing period, 2-months post-writing period