NCT04803344

The Effectiveness of Expressive Writing on a Sample of New Mothers

The Effectiveness of Expressive Writing Intervention on the Psychological Wellness of the Mothers One Month After the Childbirth

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 41 (actual)
• Sponsor: University of Roma La Sapienza · Academic / Other
• Sex: Female
• Age: 18 Years – 45 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

This pilot study aims to evaluate the effects of an expressive writing intervention on a sample of new mothers after the childbirth on the psychological health and on the healthcare costs. The mothers were evaluated also in a follow-up one month after the end of the expressive writing intervention.

Detailed description

Women are recruited starting from the sixth month of pregnancy; forty-one eventually agreed to participate and they were randomly assigned to two groups: an Experimental group (treated with the expressive writing task, one weeks-three months after childbirth) and a Control group (no intervention). Psychological health is measured at three stages: before intervention, at 8-9 months pregnant (T0); after intervention, from 1 week to 3 months after delivery (T1); and a follow-up after 1 to 3 months (T2). The assessment protocol consists of the Attachment Style Questionnaire (ASQ), the Prenatal Attachment Inventory (PAI), the Toronto Alexythimia Scale-20 (TAS-20), the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-13), the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-Y), the Rating Scale For Rapid Stress Assessment (VRS) and the 12-Item Short Form Survey (SF-12). The healthcare costs are collected at baseline (T0) and follow-up (T2) with a survey created ad hoc, in which participants reported the number and the type of the medical examinations, hospitalisations, prescribed drugs etc. Social and personal data are collected from the first survey.

Conditions

• Maternal Distress
• Health Care Utilization

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Expressive Writing tecnique	Expressive Writing (EW), is a simple, potentially inexpensive, therapeutic intervention which involves writing daily for 15-20 min over 3-4 consecutive days. EW can be completed at home without the need for facilitation, a specialist therapist or a dedicated facility.
BEHAVIORAL	Neutral Writing	Participants were asked to write on neutral objects or events.

Timeline

• Start date: 2019-04-01
• Primary completion: 2020-03-30
• Completion: 2020-03-30
• First posted: 2021-03-17
• Last updated: 2021-03-17

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Italy