A longitudinal investigation of the efficacy of online expressive writing interventions for Hispanic students exposed to traumatic events: competing theories of action

Abstract

Objective: Although expressive writing (EW) appears efficacious for treating a range of posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptoms including diagnosed PTSD, little is known about its efficacy when offered online and for ethnic/cultural minority populations such as Hispanic individuals. The current study examined the longitudinal effects of two online EW tasks for treating PTS symptoms in a Hispanic student sample. Design: Seventy-one participants who had experienced a traumatic event were randomly assigned to either an emotion-focused (EM) writing group or a fact-focused (FC) writing group and completed online writing sessions for three consecutive days. Participants completed online assessments at 1-week, 1-month, and 3month follow-ups. The PTSD Checklist-DSM-5 version was used to assess PTS symptoms. Results: Both groups reported statistically significant reductions in severity of PTS symptoms at 1-week follow-up with the EM group demonstrating statistically significantly greater symptom reductions than the FC group. Differential longitudinal effects over the 3-month follow-up periods were found for some PTS domains, with the EM group showing superior improvements relative to the FC group. Conclusion: EW delivered online can be useful for Hispanic individuals with PTS symptoms following traumatic life events. Further, the current findings align with an inhibitory learning model for explaining EW's mechanism of action.

Reducing depressive symptoms and increasing positive feelings with expressive writing

“…For instance, a significant increase in positive emotions in PEW condition compared to NEW and control condition among participants who experienced relationship dissolution [33]; while another study reported that PEW was inferior to NEW in reducing anxiety and stress for participants with mild mood disorders [22]. In addition, while many studies about PEW and NEW were conducted in laboratory settings, some studies have suggested that online writing intervention might be more convenient and accessible to a larger population than laboratory intervention [22], [34], especially during the current COVID-19 pandemic [35]. This current study attempts to fill in the previous gap by introducing online writing intervention with two types of expressive writing and one control condition to undergraduates in a private university in Malaysia.…”

“…Another clear limitation in this study is the lack of randomization to prevent selection bias in the assignment of experimental conditions, which is a common issue faced in online study [34]. The major reason that caused the lack of randomization is the technical setup of the experimental portal for this research.…”

Linguistic Markers of the Emotion Elaboration Surrounding the Confinement Period in the Italian Epicenter of COVID-19 Outbreak

“…In the present study we sought to investigate the emotion-elaboration processes by applying the linguistic measures developed by Bucci and Pennebaker to writings remotely collected during the confinement period in the Italian Epicenter of COVID-19 Outbreak. Based on the results published in the literature ( Lange et al, 2000 ; Hirai et al, 2020 ) the expressive writing method proposed online could be a way to promote the health of citizens. However, to the best of our knowledge, the expressive writing technique has never been applied as a method of investigation or intervention during a pandemic outbreak and the consequent confinement at home.…”

Pastors in Prisons and Correctional Settings, Resilience, and the Propensity for Social Entrepreneurship: Comparing two Continuing Education Programs

“…H1 is thus supported and existing research evidence on spirituality and resilience (Shelton et al, 2020; Stanley, 2014), and spirituality as aiding entrepreneurial abilities, particularly at a workplace for care workers, is substantiated (Dal Corso et al, 2020; De Carlo et al, 2020; Hunsaker, 2019; Jha et al, 2020). Further, expressive writing could be favored as a robust active control condition to examine the impact of spirituality training (see Baby et al, 2019; Chmitorz et al, 2018; Lacerda et al, 2018), particularly for prison/correctional setting pastors, as well as online interventions (Hirai et al, 2020).…”

“…Resilience and creativity-oriented intervention studies need further strengthening, which can be possible by examining specific interventions against robust comparison conditions (see Chmitorz et al, 2018). Online interventions are gaining prominence due to their ease of administration, cost-effectiveness, and efficiency and have been found to have comparable effect sizes (with face-to-face programs) (Hirai et al, 2020).…”