Effects of Guided Written Disclosure Protocol on mood states and psychological symptoms among parents of off-therapy acute lymphoblastic leukemia children

Martino, Maria Luisa; Freda, Maria Francesca; Camera, F.

doi:10.1177/1359105312462434

Cited by 27 publications

(49 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…Previous studies of WED in caregivers have reported reductions in anxiety (Martino, Freda, & Camera, 2013) and traumatic symptoms (Barry & Singer, 2001), in addition to improvements in general psychological health (Barry & Singer, 2001). Furthermore, only one study has focussed explicitly on caregivers of people with psychosis (Barton & Jackson, 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Feasibility and Participant Experiences of a Written Emotional Disclosure Intervention for Parental Caregivers of People with Psychosis

et al. 2015

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Caregivers are at increased risk of poor health but often cannot engage with health care because of practical constraints. Writing therapies such as written emotional disclosure (WED) might represent an accessible therapy for this population. This study aimed to determine whether WED is a suitable therapy for caregivers of people with psychosis. Data were collected from a feasibility trial comparing WED with a neutral writing task. Twenty four participants completed writing tasks; the content was analysed using the Linguistic Inquiry Word Count (LIWC) programme. Twenty one participants provided feedback about the writing task, and data were analysed using Burnard's thematic content analysis. WED was feasible to implement in caregivers of people with psychosis. All participants ascribed benefit to writing tasks, the majority describing a cathartic effect, enjoying time to oneself or distraction from caregiving. Quantitative comparison indicated differences in emotional content between intervention and control writing. However, qualitative analysis showed that control participants found it challenging to write neutrally, the majority citing the care-recipient in their writing. Community-based WED is a feasible therapy for caregivers of people with psychosis. The need for refinement of the control writing task for use in caregivers is discussed. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Feasibility and Participant Experiences of a Written Emotional Disclosure Intervention for Parental Caregivers of People with Psychosis

et al. 2015

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“…We reported in a previous article (Martino, Freda, & Camera, 2013) that writing affects health outcomes; in this article, we use a qualitative approach to explore the meaning-making processes underlying the writings of parents of children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in the off-therapy phase. Specifically, what are the processes of meaning making through which writing has worked?…”

Section: Narrative and Meaning-making Processes: Our Perspectivementioning

confidence: 99%

“…We chose the SQ (Fava & Kellner, 1982;Fava et al, 1983) as a sensitive and reliable tool for measuring the change of symptomatological aspects after a psychological intervention. We focused on anxiety because it is one of the main symptomatological aspects that emerged among the parents during the off-therapy phase (see Martino, Freda, & Camera, 2013). Moreover, the GWDP is effective at reducing anxiety, stress, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD; Duncan et al, 2007;Gidron et al, 2002).…”

Section: Participants and Toolsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This standpoint has made it possible to accept the parents' request for support after the intervention. In this way, the writing intervention became an activator of self-awareness and a psychological demand (Martino, Freda, & Camera, 2013). The narratives of the GPO parents, who started out with moderate distress and derived benefits from writing, showed that narration can be used as an opportunity, similar to in the narratives of the HPO parents-to build a workspace where one's story is reexperienced with a new reflexive viewpoint chiefly grounded on the construction of connections.…”

Section: Conclusion Limitations and Future Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Health and Writing

Freda

Martino

2014

Qual Health Res

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There is literary evidence stating that expressive writing affects health outcomes. Nevertheless, the processes underlying its benefits remain unclear. In our previous article, we described the benefits of writing; in this article, we investigate the meaning-making processes underlying the traumatic experiences of parents of children with leukemia in off-therapy. We collected the writings of 23 parents and grouped them according to the parents' psychological outcome (low/good/high) with respect to anxiety, as assessed during a follow-up. We qualitatively analyzed the texts written by parents with good psychological outcomes to highlight their main meaning-making processes, that is, how they put into words the shattering experience, reordered the events, connected their emotions and the events, reevaluated the event, and reconstructed the time process. We found that parents with low/high outcomes articulated these processes differently. Furthermore, we discussed the uses and functions of written narration for each group.

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“…In our view, it can be considered as a narrative (Margherita 2009) co-constructed within a group, like a device characterized by its therapeutic potentialities performing above all a transformative function (Bion 1961). The narrative is such that the story told contains, constructs links and hypothesis between experiences by connecting the present, past, future in framework involving sense and meaning (Angus & McLeod 2004;Freda 2011;Martino et al 2012). The narrative brings together emotional aspects, feelings and images that speak on various levels about the group, their relationships, and the context.…”

Section: The Fairy Tale In Group: the Functionsmentioning

confidence: 99%