A Positive Activity Intervention to Promote Wellbeing in Romanian Immigrants

Universitat Jaume I

Status: Unknown

Conditions: Immigrants

Treatments: Behavioral: Daily Activities; Behavioral: Best Possible Self

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT02493439

UJaumeI013

Details and patient eligibility

About

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.

Full 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.

Enrollment: 80 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

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

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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80 participants in 2 patient groups, including a placebo group

Best Possible Self

Experimental group

Description:

Participants are asked to write and imagine about a future in which they have reached all their goals in four different domains: personal, professional, social and health. The participants are instructed to practice the BPS intervention for a month, 5 minutes/day.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Best Possible Self

Daily Activities

Placebo Comparator group

Description:

Participants are asked to think and write about the activities carried out in the last 24 hours. The participants are instructed to practice the Daily Activities exercise for a month, 5 minutes/day.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Daily Activities