Project QueST 2023: Queer Survivors of Trauma (QueST2023)

Syracuse University

Status: Active, not recruiting

Conditions: Drinking Heavy; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic

Treatments: Behavioral: Stigma Expressive Writing; Behavioral: Control; Behavioral: Trauma Expressive Writing

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT05569915

20-306

Details and patient eligibility

About

This study aims to test the initial efficacy of tailored online writing interventions specifically designed for sexual minority women, transgender individuals, and/or nonbinary people to target the primary outcomes: posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom severity and hazardous drinking.

Full description

This study aims to provide a novel method for adapting and testing evidence-based expressive writing (EW) treatments for trauma-exposed sexual minority women (SMW) and gender diverse individuals. The investigators will (1) describe the development and components of the proposed EW treatments, (2) discuss our plan for evaluating acceptability and feasibility of the proposed study, (3) identify steps for characterizing preliminary efficacy of EW treatments in reducing PTSD symptom severity and hazardous drinking levels compared to control, and (4) highlight our strategy for preliminarily evaluating mediators and moderators of treatment efficacy.

Enrollment: 131 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• being at least 18 years of age
• reporting English fluency
• identifying as sexual minority women, inclusive of gender-diverse people
• living in the United States (US)
• reporting one or more Criterion A traumatic events
• having internet and email access
• not having received inpatient psychiatric support in the past six months

Exclusion criteria

• failing an inclusion criterion

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

---

131 participants in 3 patient groups, including a placebo group

Trauma Expressive Writing

Experimental group

Description:

In the trauma condition, we ask participants to write about a traumatic experience, prompting them to write their very deepest thoughts and feelings about the most traumatic experience of their entire life or an extremely important stressful, upsetting, or emotional issue that has affected them.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Trauma Expressive Writing

Stigma Expressive Writing

Experimental group

Description:

In the stigma condition, we ask participants to write about an experience of stigma, prompting them to write about their very deepest thoughts and feelings about the most difficult or painful experience of stigma or bias (e.g., prejudice, bullying, rejection, discrimination) based on one or more of their identities (e.g., race/ethnicity, gender identity, sexual identity, religion) that they have faced.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Stigma Expressive Writing

Control

Placebo Comparator group

Description:

In the control condition, we ask participants to write about their day, prompting them to write about what they did yesterday from the time they got up until the time they went to bed.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Control