Evaluating the Efficacy of a 60-day Emotion Regulation Journal

University of Victoria

Status: Completed

Conditions: Emotional Regulation; Mental Health

Treatments: Other: 60-Day self-guided Emotion Regulation Journal

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT05738122

22-0469

Details and patient eligibility

About

Participants randomized to the intervention group will receive a physical copy of the 60-day emotion regulation journal during the baseline meeting. Participants will also be introduced the purpose of the journal and its intended usage (i.e., daily journaling). Intervention participants will not be offered guidance or feedback on the journal after these initial instructions, in order to emulate an ad libitum usage. Control group participants will not receive any contact with the researchers outside of the planned questionnaires and to receive their journal at the two-month timepoint.

Enrollment: 30 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 19+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• (1) being 18+ years old (2) being fluent in English, (3) currently living in the Greater Victoria area, (4) self-reporting no previously diagnosed mental illness or psychiatric conditions, and (5) scoring a mean of <4.6 on the Cognitive Reappraisal, and mean of >3.14 on the Expressive Suppression subscales of the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (based on previous mean data)

Exclusion criteria

• Scoring a mean of ≥4.6 on the Cognitive Reappraisal or a mean of ≤3.14 on the Expressive Suppression subscales of the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, currently receiving or seeking therapy for a mental illness, a current or previous diagnosis of mental illness, or self-identifying as neurodivergent.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Other

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

---

30 participants in 2 patient groups

Intervention (Journal Group)

Experimental group

Description:

Participants in the Intervention group are provided with the 60-day self-guided emotion regulation journals upon enrolment in the study. These participants complete surveys at 2 weeks, 1 month, and 2 months. After the 60-day period, these participants also complete an exit interview and a follow-up survey.

Treatment:

Other: 60-Day self-guided Emotion Regulation Journal

Control (Waitlist Group)

No Intervention group

Description:

Participants in the Waitlist group complete a 2-week, 1-month and 2-month survey. After the 60-day period, they receive access to the 60-day self-guided emotion regulation journal for their own use.