A Positive Psychology Intervention for Fibromyalgia Patients Using ICT´s (BPS_FM)

Universitat Jaume I

Status: Completed

Conditions: Fibromyalgia; Chronic Pain

Treatments: Behavioral: Daily Activities; Behavioral: e-BPS

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT02375061

UJaime011

Details and patient eligibility

About

This study is aimed to test the efficacy of a Positive Psychology Intervention (Best Possible Self, BPS) over optimism, future expectancies and positive affect at mid-term, in comparison to a control group, in fibromyalgia patients. The principal hypothesis is that the BPS intervention will enhance significantly the levels of optimism, positive future expectancies and positive affect in comparison to the Control group at short and mid-term.

Full description

Previous studies have demonstrated the effects of positive psychological factors in pain adjustment. Specially, optimism has been linked to lower pain sensitivity, better physical functioning, less psychological distress and pain catastrophizing. Until recently, the beneficial effects of optimism on pain have been studied mostly in correlational studies or in experimental interventions in laboratory settings. To address the gap between research and clinical practice, the aim of this study is to test the efficacy of the Best Possible Self intervention (BPS) using Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) with fibromyalgia patients.

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 (Meevissen, Peters & Alberts, 2011; Sheldon &Lyubomirsky, 2012; Peters, Flink, Boersma & Linton, 2010). 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 a chronic pain population. The exercise will be applied through a Positive Technology system and the effects will be analyzed during four months. The design employed in this study is similar to the used in other studies (Meevissen et al, 2011; Renner, Schwarz, Peters & Huibers, 2014; Sheldon & Lyubomirsky, 2006).

Enrollment: 80 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Patients have to fulfill the American College of Rheumatology criteria for primary FMS.
• Sign a consent form stating their willingness to participate

Exclusion criteria

• Presence of another severe physical illness
• Presence of severe psychological disorders
• 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

e-BPS intervention

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 domain. They carry out the exercise in a Positive Technology System called the "Book of Life", which has shown efficacy in the enhancement of positive mood (Baños, Etchemendy, Farfallini, García-Palacios, Quero \& Botella, 2014). This application looks like a personal diary, where participants can write all that they want and these essays are supported by multimedia content (pictures, songs and videos). Additionally, they can continue doing the exercise in a web platform (TEO-Emotional Therapy Online) in which they can visualize all the content they had developed previously.

Treatment:

Behavioral: e-BPS

Daily Activities

Placebo Comparator group

Description:

Participants are asked to think and write about all that they have done the last 24 hours. They carry out the exercise in a powerpoint document, where they can record all the activities, situations and thoughts.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Daily Activities