Self-Compassionate Writing for Caregivers of Older Adults

Farah Wiita

Status: Completed

Conditions: Self-Compassion; Control

Treatments: Behavioral: Self-Compassionate Writing for Caregivers of Older Adults

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT06507826

2021-193-AH

Details and patient eligibility

About

The goal of this study was to test an online writing intervention to encourage a self-compassionate mindset in family caregivers of older adults. The main aims were to answer the questions:

• Writing with self-compassion would increase self-compassion.
• Writing with self-compassion would improve mood. Researchers compared self-compassion components (self-kindness, which involves a gentle and non-judgemental approach to oneself at times of difficulty; common humanity, which includes recognising one's difficulties as part of a shared human experience; mindfulness, which includes noticing difficult feelings without becoming overwhelmed by them) to see which combinations achieved the best outcomes.

Participants wrote with different combinations of self-compassion components together, such as mindfulness and common humanity or mindfulness and self-kindness. Participants also wrote with self-kindness, common humanity, or mindfulness separately.

Full description

After being informed and consenting to participate in the study, participants were allocated to a self-compassion or control condition. The study was designed to target state self-compassion and mood. The research was carried out over three studies, with refinements being made each time based on previous outcomes. In Studies 1 and 2, participants were tested for self-compassion and mood (guilt, sadness, and serenity). after the writing tasks. In Study 3, participants were asked to complete measures for these both before and after the writing tasks. The experiments were carried out online for all three studies.

Enrollment: 652 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 100 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Family carer.
• Caring for a person over 65 years of age.
• Participants over 18 years of age.

Exclusion criteria

• Professional carers.
• Caring person under 65 years of age.
• Participants under 18 years of age.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Supportive Care

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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652 participants in 11 patient groups, including a placebo group

Control

Placebo Comparator group

Description:

Descriptive writing.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Self-Compassionate Writing for Caregivers of Older Adults

Mindfulness

Active Comparator group

Description:

Writing with mindfulness.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Self-Compassionate Writing for Caregivers of Older Adults

Mindfulness with Self-Kindness

Active Comparator group

Description:

Writing with mindfulness and self-kindness.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Self-Compassionate Writing for Caregivers of Older Adults

Mindfulness with Common Humanity

Active Comparator group

Description:

Writing with mindfulness and common humanity.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Self-Compassionate Writing for Caregivers of Older Adults

Control with Timed Response

Placebo Comparator group

Description:

Descriptive writing.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Self-Compassionate Writing for Caregivers of Older Adults

Mindfulness with Timed Response

Active Comparator group

Description:

Writing with mindfulness.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Self-Compassionate Writing for Caregivers of Older Adults

Self-Kindness with Timed Response

Active Comparator group

Description:

Writing with self-kindness.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Self-Compassionate Writing for Caregivers of Older Adults

Common Humanity with Timed Response

Active Comparator group

Description:

Writing with common humanity.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Self-Compassionate Writing for Caregivers of Older Adults

Revised Control

Placebo Comparator group

Description:

Descriptive writing.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Self-Compassionate Writing for Caregivers of Older Adults

Self-Compassion

Active Comparator group

Description:

Writing with mindfulness, self-kindness, and common humanity.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Self-Compassionate Writing for Caregivers of Older Adults

Self-Compassion Without Mindfulness

Active Comparator group

Description:

Writing with self-kindness and common humanity.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Self-Compassionate Writing for Caregivers of Older Adults