This study will determine whether the psychological and physical benefits of expressive writing extend to obese in-patients with Ischemic Heart Disease (IHD)referred to cardiac rehabilitation
Expressive writing, for as little as 3-5 sessions of 20 minutes, has been found to improve both physical and psychological health based on health outcome measures such as number of doctor's visits and hospital days, blood pressure control, lung and immune function, pain, anxiety and depression. Given its simplicity and obvious advantages in terms of cost-effectiveness, expressive writing has great potential as a therapeutic tool or as a means of self-help, either alone or as an adjunct to traditional therapies. This modality has not been studied in obese patients with Ischemic Heart Disease.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
SINGLE
Enrollment
100
Participants in the disease-related expressive writing condition write about their feelings about cardiac disease four times, for at least 20 minutes each time, during a two week period.
Participants in the traditional expressive writing condition write about their feelings about one or more stressful experiences they lived in the past, for at least 20 minutes each time, during a two week period
Participants in the neutral writing condition write about the facts about cardiac disease, for at least 20 minutes each time, during a two week period
San Giuseppe Hospital, Istituto Auxologico Italiano IRCSS
Verbania, Italy
SF12
The SF12 is a generic measure of both physical and emotional components of health-related quality of life
Time frame: 1 year
BDI-II
The Beck Depression Inventory is a measure of depressive symptoms
Time frame: 1 year
BDI
The Beck Anxiety Inventory is a measure of cognitive and somatic symptoms of anxiety
Time frame: 1 year
Brief-PTGI
The Brief Post-Traumatic Growth Inventory is a measure of positive growth following adversity
Time frame: 1 year
BMI
Body Mass Index (BMI) is a measure of obesity and is calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared
Time frame: 1 year
Multiple Coronary Risk Factors
Hypertension, HDL, LDL,
Time frame: 1 year
METs
Metabolic equivalents are a measure of exercise capacity. 1 MET represents the amount of oxygen consumed at rest and is equal to approximately 3.5 ml O2 kg-1 min-1
Time frame: 1 year
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