Writing About Experiences and Health in Older Adults

University of California, Los Angeles78 enrolled

Overview

UCLA researchers looking for healthy females (age 60+) to participate in a study investigating how writing about your experiences may be related to your health. Once a week for 6 weeks, participants will write about their experiences and fill out online questionnaires. Participants will also come to the UCLA campus for blood draws and to fill out questionnaires 3 times: once prior to the 6-week writing period, once immediately after the 6-week period, and once 2-months after the writing period.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Masking

DOUBLE

Enrollment

Conditions

Social Psychology

Interventions

Writing: Group 1BEHAVIORAL

Writing about experiences with familiar individuals in their lives, once a week for 6 weeks.

Writing: Group 2OTHER

Writing about experiences with familiar places, once a week for 6 weeks.

Eligibility

Sex: FEMALEMin age: 60 YearsMax age: 100 YearsHealthy volunteers:

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * Healthy adults 60 years and older Exclusion Criteria: * Following a structured telephone interview, participants with the following conditions will not be able to participate: 1. current smokers 2. active, uncontrolled medical disorders 3. chronic infection (e.g., Hepatitis C, HIV) 4. use of certain medications (e.g., hypnotic and psychotropic medication, steroid use, opioid use) 5. psychiatric disorders (e.g., current major depression, bipolar disorder) 6. body mass index (BMI) greater than 35 Other exclusion criteria may apply.

Locations (1)

UCLA Clinical & Translational Research Center (CTRC)

Los Angeles, California, United States

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Inflammatory activity

Changes in proinflammatory cytokine and proinflammatory gene expression from blood draws

Time frame: baseline, post 6-week writing period, 2-months post-writing period

Health and well-being (self-report)

Changes in self-report measures of health (e.g., pain, sleep) and well-being (e.g., social support, depression)

Time frame: baseline, post 6-week writing period, 2-months post-writing period

Data from ClinicalTrials.gov

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