Cocreating Meaning Through Expressive Writing and Reading for Cancer Caregivers

2019 ◽  
pp. 082585971987153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yvonne W. Leung ◽  
Marta M. Maslej ◽  
Clara Ho ◽  
Shima Razavi ◽  
Paul Uy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Expressive Writing ◽  
Emotional Processing ◽  
Social Connectedness ◽  
Descriptive Analysis ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Perceived Usefulness ◽  
Patients With Cancer ◽  
Interpersonal Learning

Purpose: Caregivers of patients with cancer cope with socioemotional challenges, which can adversely affect their well-being. We developed an intervention, expressive writing and reading (EWR), to promote emotional processing and social connectedness among caregivers. In a single-arm pilot study, we assessed its feasibility and perceived usefulness. Methods: Caregivers participated in weekly 1.5-hour EWR workshops offered over 20 weeks. After 4 sessions, they completed semistructured interviews, which were analyzed using qualitative descriptive analysis. Findings: Of 65 caregivers approached, 25 were eligible, 18 consented, and 9 (50%) caregivers completed at least 4 workshops and the interview. Their responses revealed 3 themes: “inner processing,” “interpersonal learning,” and “enhanced processing and preparedness.” Perceived benefits of EWR included emotional and cognitive processing (individual and collaborative), learning from the emotions and experiences of other caregivers, and preparing for upcoming challenges. Conclusions: Expressive writing and reading can be a safe and cost-effective supportive intervention for caregivers of patients with cancer.

scholarly journals Multimodal Emotion Evaluation: A Physiological Model for Cost-Effective Emotion Classification

Sensors ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (12) ◽  
pp. 3510 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gisela Pinto ◽  
João M. Carvalho ◽  
Filipa Barros ◽  
Sandra C. Soares ◽  
Armando J. Pinho ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Processing ◽  
Electrodermal Activity ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Physiological Model ◽  
Classification Systems ◽  
Physiological Signals ◽  
Emotion Classification ◽  
Adaptive Responses ◽  
Emotion Identification

Emotional responses are associated with distinct body alterations and are crucial to foster adaptive responses, well-being, and survival. Emotion identification may improve peoples’ emotion regulation strategies and interaction with multiple life contexts. Several studies have investigated emotion classification systems, but most of them are based on the analysis of only one, a few, or isolated physiological signals. Understanding how informative the individual signals are and how their combination works would allow to develop more cost-effective, informative, and objective systems for emotion detection, processing, and interpretation. In the present work, electrocardiogram, electromyogram, and electrodermal activity were processed in order to find a physiological model of emotions. Both a unimodal and a multimodal approach were used to analyze what signal, or combination of signals, may better describe an emotional response, using a sample of 55 healthy subjects. The method was divided in: (1) signal preprocessing; (2) feature extraction; (3) classification using random forest and neural networks. Results suggest that the electrocardiogram (ECG) signal is the most effective for emotion classification. Yet, the combination of all signals provides the best emotion identification performance, with all signals providing crucial information for the system. This physiological model of emotions has important research and clinical implications, by providing valuable information about the value and weight of physiological signals for emotional classification, which can critically drive effective evaluation, monitoring and intervention, regarding emotional processing and regulation, considering multiple contexts.

An Expressive Writing Intervention to Cope with Lesbian-Related Stress: The Moderating Effects of Openness about Sexual Orientation

2005 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 149-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin J. Lewis ◽  
Valerian J. Derlega ◽  
Eva G. Clarke ◽  
Jenny C. Kuang ◽  
Andrew M. Jacobs ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Orientation ◽  
Perceived Stress ◽  
Expressive Writing ◽  
Traumatic Events ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Traumatic Experiences ◽  
Writing Intervention ◽  
Expressive Writing Intervention ◽  
Related Stress

Over the past two decades, expressive writing interventions have been used successfully to reduce distress and improve well-being for those dealing with traumatic events, stressors, and illnesses. The purpose of this study was to investigate an expressive writing intervention for lesbian-related stressors. As expected, writing about traumatic events related to sexual orientation reduced self-reported confusion and perceived stress over a 2-month period for those lesbians who were less open about their sexual orientation. Interestingly, writing about such traumatic experiences was associated with increases in confusion and perceived stress for those who were more open about their sexual orientation. Applying this paradigm to assist individuals in coping with stressors related to their sexual orientation represents an important addition to the expressive writing literature. Furthermore, it offers a promising, cost-effective method to assist closeted lesbians in coping with stressors related to their sexual orientation.

scholarly journals Improving Resilience, Optimism, Purpose, and Loneliness Among Older Adults

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 182-183
Author(s):  
Lizi Wu ◽  
Laurie Albright ◽  
Rachel Ungar ◽  
Catherine Zaidel ◽  
Yan Cheng ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Expressive Writing ◽  
Social Connectedness ◽  
Healthy Aging ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Support Program ◽  
Holistic Model ◽  
Participant Satisfaction ◽  
Self Compassion ◽  
Net Promoter ◽  
Health And Well Being

Abstract Aging Strong 2020 was developed to promote health and well-being and increase resilience by focusing on the pillars of enhanced purpose in life, social connectedness, and optimism. A series of eight interventions over three years tested the feasibility of enhancing these pillars. Interventions included: 1) An expressive writing program, 2) Animatronic pets, 3) A telephonic reminiscent program, 4) An online self-compassion mindfulness program, 5) A technology-based behavior change tool, 6) An online and workbook tool for purpose, 7) An online happiness program, and 8) A peer-to-peer support program. Each program demonstrated efficacy dependent on the pillar targeted and the population sampled. Overall, some improvement was found among participants in resilience (47%), purpose (49%), optimism (44%), and loneliness (48%). Further, participant satisfaction improved in each program with Net Promoter Scores increasing between 7-19 points. Results demonstrate that Aging Strong 2020 was successful, contributing to a holistic model of healthy aging.

Physical and Psychological Benefits of Written Emotional Expression

2015 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 242-251 ◽  
Author(s):  
Éva Kállay
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Expressive Writing ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Health Problems ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Psychological Benefits ◽  
Cost Effective Treatment ◽  
Meta Analyses

Abstract. The last several decades have witnessed a substantial increase in the number of individuals suffering from both diagnosable and subsyndromal mental health problems. Consequently, the development of cost-effective treatment methods, accessible to large populations suffering from different forms of mental health problems, became imperative. A very promising intervention is the method of expressive writing (EW), which may be used in both clinically diagnosable cases and subthreshold symptomatology. This method, in which people express their feelings and thoughts related to stressful situations in writing, has been found to improve participants’ long-term psychological, physiological, behavioral, and social functioning. Based on a thorough analysis and synthesis of the published literature (also including most recent meta-analyses), the present paper presents the expressive writing method, its short- and long-term, intra-and interpersonal effects, different situations and conditions in which it has been proven to be effective, the most important mechanisms implied in the process of recovery, advantages, disadvantages, and possible pitfalls of the method, as well as variants of the original technique and future research directions.

The Relations between Cultural Life Scripts, Individual Life Stories, and Psychological Distress

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michele Anne ◽  
Steve M. J. Janssen
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Life Story ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Shared Knowledge ◽  
Trauma Symptoms ◽  
Individual Life ◽  
Significant Events ◽  
Cultural Life ◽  
Positive Individual ◽  
Life Scripts

Cultural Life Scripts (CLS) are shared knowledge about personal events expected to be experienced by individuals within a society, and used as a framework for life story narration. Differences in CLS for individuals with depression and trauma, and their relations to anxiety, stress, and well-being, have not been investigated. Malaysian participants (N = 120) described and rated seven significant events most likely to be experienced by a prototypical infant from their culture, and seven significant events they had experienced or expected to experience in their own life. Participants then answered questionnaires about depression and trauma symptoms and about anxiety, stress, and well-being. The subclinical depression group listed less typical CLS events, whereas the subclinical PTSD group listed less positive individual life story events. The findings indicate that, although individuals with depression and trauma possess knowledge of the CLS, there may be small differences in the cognitive processing of CLS and individual life story events.

Clinical utility of Shabda and Sparsha Pareeksha in evaluation of Prakruta and Vaikruta Garbhavastha

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Priyanka T K ◽  
V.N. K. Usha ◽  
Sucheta Kumari M
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Study ◽  
Clinical Utility ◽  
Neonatal Outcome ◽  
Predictive Accuracy ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Prospective Clinical Study ◽  
Clinical Tool ◽  
Accuracy Rate ◽  
Fetal Pathology

Garbha is a conglomeration of biological mass with different strata including consciousness, needs an innovative clinical tool to evaluate its well being, which proves safe, potent, cost-effective and noninvasive. The idea of taking up this study was to sensitively predict the Prakrutavastha or well being w.r.t Garbha-pushti and ongoing Fetal Pathology, Vaikrutavastha w.s.r Garbhavyapads for a sharp interference to get a possible best neonatal outcome. The objective of this study was to calculate the predictive accuracy of evaluation of Garbhaspandanam on external Shabda and Sparsha Pareeksha. A Prospective Clinical study of Garbhaspandanam (FHS and FM) with external Shabda and Sparsha stimulation on maternal abdomen, from 24th week onwards was conducted in a cohort of 30 Singleton Pregnant women at Dept. of Prasuti Tantra and Stri Roga, S.D.M.C.A. Hospital, Udupi. Among the 9 cases in abnormal category, 2 cases had gone for IUD and one case though placed in abnormal category had responded relatively well to Shabda and Sparsha Pareeksha which may be due to the proper antenatal care and intervention given along with the patient’s Vatakara Nidana Parivarjana. Predictive Accuracy Rate on Shabda and Sparsha Pareeksha showed, FHS 70%, FM 76.7%; FHS 73.3%, FM 66.7% respectively. Shabda and Sparshapareeksha can be utilized as the Garbha - chetana - dyodakalakshana and can be performed as a routine antenatal bedside procedure, which can fairly detect the Prakruta and Vaikrutavastha of Garbha w.r.t Pushti. However larger prospective studies are required.

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