Can You Reduce Diabetes Symptomatology by Becoming Your 'Best Possible Self': The Role of Stress and Resilience

Liverpool John Moores University

Status: Completed

Conditions: Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2

Treatments: Behavioral: Best Possible Self

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT03675165

18/NSP/067

Details and patient eligibility

About

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.

Full 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.

Enrollment: 110 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Non-clinical sample
• 18+
• Access to the internet

Exclusion criteria

• Severe mental illness (such as schizophrenia or bipolar depression)

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Double Blind

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110 participants in 2 patient groups

Intervention

Experimental group

Description:

Participants receive a tailored version of Laura King's 'Best Possible Self' intervention: a brief, self-administered, psychological intervention. It is fundamentally a writing exercise, whereby recipients are asked to spend 10 minutes writing about their best possible future self and the steps they need to take to become that person. This helps the individual set goals while facilitating positive affect. Our version of the task has people focus on their health-related goals in particular.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Best Possible Self

Waiting List Control

No Intervention group

Description:

Participants are informed that they are on a waiting list and will receive the intervention at the end of the study.