A pilot study on the effects and feasibility of compassion-focused expressive writing in Day Hospice patients

Palliative and Supportive Care

Volumn 10, Issue 2, 2012, Pages 115-122

  Imrie, Susan ^a   Troop, Nicholas A ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF HERTFORDSHIRE   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

Expressive writing; Self compassion; Stress

Indexed keywords

ADULT; AGED; DAY CARE; EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE; FEASIBILITY STUDY; FEMALE; HOSPICE; HUMAN; MALE; MENTAL STRESS; MIDDLE AGED; ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT; PILOT STUDY; PROCEDURES; PSYCHOLOGY; SELF EVALUATION; STANDARDS; TERMINALLY ILL PATIENT; THERAPY; VERY ELDERLY; WRITING;

ADULT; AGED; AGED, 80 AND OVER; DAY CARE; EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE; FEASIBILITY STUDIES; FEMALE; HOSPICES; HUMANS; MALE; MIDDLE AGED; PILOT PROJECTS; SELF-ASSESSMENT; STRESS, PSYCHOLOGICAL; TERMINALLY ILL; WRITING;

EID: 84872012361     PISSN: 14789515     EISSN: 14789523     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S1478951512000181     Document Type: Article

References (47)

1. Beckwith McGuire, K.M., Greenberg, M.A. & Gevirtz, R. (2005). Autonomic effects of expressive writing in individuals with elevated blood pressure. Journal of Health Psychology, 10, 197-209. (Pubitemid 40569628)
2. Bodor, N.Z. (2002). The Health Effects of Emotional Disclosure for Individuals with Type 1 Diabetes. Doctoral dissertation. Austin, Texas: University of Texas.
3. Broderick, J.E., Junghaenel, D.U. & Schwartz, J.E. (2005). Written emotional expression produces health benefits in fibromyalgia patients. Psychosomatic Medicine, 67, 326-334. (Pubitemid 40410971)
4. Burton, C.M. & King, L.A. (2004). The health benefits of writing about intensely positive experiences. Journal of Research in Personality, 38, 150-163. (Pubitemid 38334269)
5. Chung, C.K. & Pennebaker, J.W. (2008). Variations in the spacing of expressive writing sessions. British Journal of Health Psychology, 13, 15-21. (Pubitemid 351286844)
6. Cohen, S. & Williamson, G. (1988). Perceived stress in a probability sample of the United States. In S. Spacapan & S. Oskamp (Eds.), The social psychology of health: Claremont Symposium on applied social psychology (pp. 31-67). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
7. Danner, D.D., Snowdon, D.A. & Friesen, W.V. (2001). Positive emotions in early life and longevity: Findings from the nun study. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80, 804-813. (Pubitemid 33594894)
8. Frattaroli, J. (2006). Experimental disclosure and its moderators: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 132, 823-865. (Pubitemid 44665369)
9. Gilbert, P. (2005). Compassion and cruelty: A biopsychosocial approach. In P Gilbert (Ed.) Compassion: Conceptualisations, research and use in psychotherapy (pp. 9-74). London: Routledge.
10. Gilbert, P. (2009). The Compassionate Mind: A New Approach to Life's Challenges. London: Constable.
11. Gilbert, P., Clarke, M., Hempel, S., et al. (2004). Criticizing and reassuring oneself: An exploration of forms, styles and reasons in female students. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 43, 31-50. (Pubitemid 38379781)
12. Gilbert, P. & Irons, C. (2005). Therapies for shame and selfattacking, using cognitive, behavioural, emotional imagery and compassionate mind training. In P Gilbert (Ed.) Compassion: Conceptualisations, research and use in psychotherapy (pp. 263-325). London: Routledge.
13. Gilbert, P., McEwan, K., Mitra, R., et al. (2008). Feeling safe and content: A specific affect regulation system? Relationship to depression, anxiety, stress, and self-criticism. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 3, 1-10.
14. Gilbert, P. &Procter, S. (2006). Compassionate Mind Training for people with high shame and self-criticism: Overview and pilot study of a group therapy approach. Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, 13, 353-379. (Pubitemid 46062132)
15. Joseph, S., Linley, P., Harwood, J., et al. (2004). Rapid assessment of well-being: The Short Depression-Happiness Scale (SDHS). Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, 77, 463-478. (Pubitemid 40023712)
16. Kelley, J., Lumley, M. & Leisen, J. (1997). Health effects of emotional disclosure in rheumatoid arthritis patients. Health Psychology, 16, 331-340. (Pubitemid 127465515)
17. King, L. (2001). The health benefits of writing about life goals. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 27, 798-807.
18. Leary, M., Tate, E., Adams, C., et al. (2007). Self-Compassion and reactions to unpleasant self-relevant events: The implications of treating oneself kindly. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92, 887-904.
19. Lepore, S. (1997). Expressive writing moderates the relation between intrusive thoughts and depressive symptoms. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73, 1030-1037. (Pubitemid 127688898)
20. Lester, J. (2005). Life Reviewwith the terminally ill: Narrative therapies. In P Firth, G. Luff & D. Oliviere, (Eds.), Loss, Change and Bereavement in Palliative Care (pp 66-79). Maidenhead: Open University Press.
21. Low, C., Stanton, A. & Danoff-Burg, S. (2006). Expressive disclosure and benefit finding among breast cancer patients: Mechanisms for positive health effects. Health Psychology, 25, 181-189.
22. National Council for Hospice and Specialist Palliative Care Services. (1997). Feeling Better: Psychosocial care in specialist palliative care. A discussion paper. Occasional Paper 13, August 1997, London: National Council.
23. Neff, K. (2003a). Self-Compassion: An alternative conceptualization of a healthy attitude toward oneself. Self and Identity, 2, 85-101.
24. Neff,K. (2003b).The development and validationof a scale to measure self-compassion. Self and Identity, 2, 223-250.
25. Neff, K., Kirkpatrick, K. & Rude, S. (2007b). Self-compassion and adaptive psychological functioning. Journal of Research in Personality, 41, 139-154.
26. Neff, K.&McGehee, P. (2010). Self-compassion and psychological resilience among adolescents and young adults. Self and Identity, 9, 225-240.
27. Neff, K., Rude, S. & Kirkpatrick, K. (2007a). An examination of self-compassion in relation to positive psychological functioning and personality traits. Journal of Research in Personality, 41, 908-916.
28. Norman, S., Lumley, M., Dooley, J., et al. (2002). For whom does itwork?Moderators of the effects ofwrittenemotional disclosure in a randomized trial among women with chronic pelvic pain. PsychosomaticMedicine, 66, 174-183. (Pubitemid 38393225)
29. Oliviere, D., Hargreaves, R. & Monroe, B. (1998). Good Practices in Palliative Care: A Psychosocial Perspective. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing Ltd.
30. Pennebaker, J. & Beall, S. (1986). Confronting a traumatic event: Toward an understanding of inhibition and disease. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 95, 274-281. (Pubitemid 17043226)
31. Pennebaker, J. & Francis, M. (1996). Cognitive, emotional, and language processes in disclosure. Cognition and Emotion, 10, 601-626. (Pubitemid 126483760)
32. Pennebaker, J., Francis, M. & Booth, R. (2001). Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC): LIWC 2001. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
33. Pennebaker, J., Mayne, T. & Francis, M. (1997). Linguistic predictors of adaptive bereavement. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72, 863-871. (Pubitemid 127688824)
34. Pennebaker, J., Mehl, M. & Niederhoffer, K. (2003). Psychological aspects of natural language use: Our words, our selves. Annual Review of Psychology, 54, 547-577. (Pubitemid 37417505)
35. Petrie, K., Booth, R. &Pennebaker, J. (1999). The immunological effects of thought suppression. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 1264-1272.
36. Petrie, K., Fontanilla, I., Thomas, M., et al. (2004). Effect of written emotional expression on immune function in patients with human immunodeficiency virus infection: A randomized trial. Psychosomatic Medicine, 66, 272-275. (Pubitemid 38393238)
37. Rivkin, I., Gustafson, J., Weingarten, I., et al. (2006). The effects of expressive writing on adjustment to HIV. AIDS and Behavior, 10, 13-26.
38. Robins, R., Hendin, H. & Trzesniewski, K. (2001). Measuring global self-esteem: Construct validation of a singleitem measure and the Rosenburg Self-Esteem Scale. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 27, 151-161.
39. Shapiro, S., Astin, J., Bishop, S., et al. 2005). Mindfulnessbased stress reduction for health care professionals: Results from a randomized trial. International Journal of Stress Management, 12, 164-176. (Pubitemid 40855671)
40. Sheldon, F. (1997). Psychosocial Palliative Care: Good Practice in the Care of the Dying and Bereaved. Cheltenham: Stanley Thornes.
41. Smyth, J. (1998). Written emotional expression: Effect sizes, outcome types, and moderating variables. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 66, 174-184. (Pubitemid 28086820)
42. Smyth, J. & Pennebaker, J. (2008). Exploring the boundary conditions of expressive writing: In search of the right recipe. British Journal of Health Psychology, 13, 1-7. (Pubitemid 351286842)
43. Smyth, J., Stone, A., Hurewitz, A., et al. (1999). Effects of writing about stressful experiences on symptom reduction in patients with asthma or rheumatoid arthritis: A randomized trial. The Journal of the American Medical Association, 281, 1304-1309. (Pubitemid 29174482)
44. Stanton, A., Danoff-Burg, S., Sworowski, L., et al. (2002). Randomized controlled trial of written emotional expression and benefit finding in breast cancer patients. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 20, 4160-4168. (Pubitemid 35191018)
45. Tausczik, Y. & Pennebaker, J. (2010). The psychological meaning of words: LIWC and computerized text analysis methods. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 29, 24-54.
46. Ullrich, P. & Lutgendorf, S. (2002). Journaling about stressful events: Effects of cognitive processing and emotional expression. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 24, 244-250. (Pubitemid 34839945)
47. Weinman, J., Ebrecht, M., Scott, S., et al. (2008). Enhanced wound healing after emotional disclosure intervention. British Journal of Health Psychology, 13, 95-102. (Pubitemid 351286860)