The Efficacy and Mechanism of Positive Psychological Intervention on Well-Being for Colostomy Patients: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Aims To evaluate the efficacy and mechanism of positive psychological intervention (PPI) on the psychological capital, psychological distress, and life satisfaction among colostomy patients. Methods Patients (n=120) with permanent stomas were recruited and randomly assigned into two groups. Patients in the experimental group (n=60) received standard care and PPI, whereas patients in the control group (n=60) only received standard care. The psychological capital, psychological distress, and life satisfaction were measured and compared between two groups before the intervention, the immediate post-intervention, and follow-up. Results All 120 patients completed the study. The hope, optimism, resilience, psychological distress, and life satisfaction score of the experimental group were significantly higher than those of the control group at T1 and T2 (P<0.05). Self-efficacy score of the experimental group had no significant difference at the two-time points after the intervention than the control group (P>0.05). Changes in hope and resilience which belong to psychological capital mediated the intervention’s efficacy on changes in PPI on life satisfaction (β = 0.265, P=0.005; β = 0.686, P=0.002). Conclusions PPI could effectively improve psychological capital, psychological distress, and life satisfaction among patients with stomas. Besides, our findings add novel support that increased hope and resilience are the active ingredients that promote intervention change.

Effects of Positive Psychological Intervention on Negative Psychology, Cognitive Function, Self-Acceptance and Disease Uncertainty in Patients with Parkinson’s Disease

Objective: to analyze the influence of positive psychological intervention on negative psychology, cognitive function, self-acceptance and disease uncertainty in patients with Parkinson’s disease. Methods: 79 patients with Parkinson’s disease admitted to our hospital from July 2017 to December 2019 were collected for comparative treatment. According to the random number method, they were divided into observation group (40 cases) and control group (39 cases). The patients in the control group were given routine nursing methods. The patients in the observation group were given positive psychological intervention on the basis of the control group. After the interference, the patients in the two groups were given negative psychology (HAMD) and cognition Function (visuospatial and executive function, naming ability, attention and memory, language ability, abstract thinking, delayed memory, orientation ability, total score), self-acceptance (self-acceptance, self-score), disease uncertainty (uncertainty, complexity), ADL, family coping style average score (positive coping style, negative coping style) The differences were analyzed. Results: after intervention, the HAMD scores of the two groups were lower than that before intervention, and the above indexes of the observation group were significantly lower than that of the control group (P < 0.05). After intervention, the visual space and executive function, naming ability, attention and memory, language ability, abstract thinking, delayed memory, orientation ability and total scores of the two groups were significantly higher than those of the control group (P < 0.05). After intervention, the self-acceptance and self-score of the two groups were higher than before intervention, and the above indexes of the observation group were significantly higher than those of the control group, the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). After intervention, the scores of uncertainties and complexity in the two groups were lower than those before intervention, and the above indexes in the observation group were significantly lower than those in the control group (P < 0.05). After intervention, the ADL scores of the two groups were higher than that before intervention, and the above indexes of the observation group were significantly higher than those of the control group, the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). After intervention, the scores of positive coping style in the two groups were higher than those before intervention, and the above indexes in the observation group were significantly higher than those in the control group (P < 0.05), while the scores of negative coping style in the observation group were lower than those before intervention, and the above indexes in the observation group were significantly lower than those in the control group, with a statistically significant difference (P < 0.05). Conclusion: positive psychological intervention can reduce the level of depression, improve patients’ cognitive function, increase patients’ self-confidence, reduce their fear of disease and improve their living standrads.

Influences of Psychological Intervention on Negative Emotion, Cancer-Related Fatigue and Level of Hope in Lung Cancer Chemotherapy Patients Based on the PERMA Framework

Background: Psychological status is a decisive factor for regulating the lung cancer chemotherapy patients’ levels of fatigue and hope. Using the PERMA (Positive Emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Accomplishment) framework. We aimed to explore the influences of the psychological intervention on the patients’ negative emotion, cancer-related fatigue, and level of hope. Method: A total of 100 lung cancer chemotherapy patients admitted in Wuhan No.4 Hospital, China, from Jan 2018 to Aug 2019 were enrolled as research objects divided into the control group and observation group. Positive psychological intervention using the PERMA framework was given to the observation group. The scores of Post-Traumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI), Self-rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS), Cancer Fatigue Scale (CFS), and Herth Hope Index (HHI) were evaluated and compared in the two groups. Results: After the intervention, PTGI score in the observation group is higher than that in the control group, whereas the SAS and SDS scores are lower in the observation group than in the control group, and the differences are statistically significant (P<0.05). Score of each CFS dimension and total CFS score in the observation group are all lower than those in the control group, with statistically significant differences (P<0.05). Score of each HHI dimension and total HHI score are higher than those in the control group, and the differences are statistically significant (P<0.05). Conclusion: Positive psychological intervention using the PERMA framework can improve the emotional and fatigue state of lung cancer chemotherapy patients and elevate their level of hope.

A Web-Based Positive Psychological Intervention to Improve Blood Pressure Control in Spanish-Speaking Hispanic/Latino Adults With Uncontrolled Hypertension: Protocol and Design for the ¡Alégrate! Randomized Controlled Trial

Background Growing evidence links psychological well-being and resilience with superior cardiac health, but there remains a critical scientific gap about whether (or how) interventions that aim to cultivate psychological well-being reduce cardiac risk. Hispanic/Latino people in the United States have high cardiovascular disease risk and poorly controlled blood pressure (BP) compared with their peers of European ancestry, and they represent a population in need of new and innovative therapeutic approaches. As such, a focused intervention to boost psychological well-being holds promise as a novel therapeutic target for hypertension in Hispanic/Latino adults; to date, however, no research has explored whether a causal link is evident. Objective The aim of this paper is to detail the protocol for the ¡Alégrate! (Be Happy!) intervention, a Phase II randomized controlled trial testing initial efficacy in improving BP of a web-based positive psychological intervention designed to boost psychological well-being in Spanish-speaking Hispanic/Latino people with hypertension. Methods A total of 70 Hispanic/Latino people aged ≥18 years, fluent in Spanish, and with elevated BP (≥140/90 mm Hg) will be recruited in person from a single Federally Qualified Health Center in Chicago. Enrollees will be randomly assigned to 1 of 2 trial arms: (1) web-based positive psychological intervention or (2) an active control condition (eg, 3 times weekly emotion reporting). Our 5-week Spanish-language ¡Alégrate! intervention is web-based and delivers curricular content via didactic instruction, journaling, and assigned at-home practice—all accessed via our website using investigator-purchased tablet computers, with a unique username and password assigned to each enrollee. Targeted skills include noting daily positive events, positive reappraisal of stressful events, effective expression of gratitude, performing acts of kindness, and regular practice of mindfulness and meditation. The primary outcome is improvement in BP, both sitting values and 24-hour ambulatory readings, as measured at baseline and 5 and 12 weeks from baseline. Secondary outcomes include psychological well-being, engagement in healthy behaviors, and circulating levels of inflammatory markers. The outcomes of interest are collected by trained research staff through in-person interviews using the REDCap software. Results Activities of the ¡Alégrate! intervention were funded in August 2017, and data collection is ongoing. We expect to submit trial results for peer-reviewed publications in 2021, soon after recruitment has been concluded and statistical analyses are finalized. Conclusions Findings will provide evidence on whether interventions to boost psychological well-being and resilience have downstream effects on BP control and cardiovascular health, particularly as they are deployed in the Spanish language with cultural tailoring and via a web-based platform. If effective, we will have an easily disseminatable application that can positively impact well-being profiles and BP control in Hispanic/Latino people, with the possibility of addressing health disparities of this US racial/ethnic minority group. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03892057; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03892057 International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID) PRR1-10.2196/17721