NCT06265701

Does a Novel Intervention Targeting Derailment Decrease Depressive Symptoms?

Decreasing Depressive Symptoms Through a Derailment-Focused Reflective Journaling Intervention

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 116 (actual)
• Sponsor: Cornell University · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 29 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

The goal of this clinical trial is to explore the efficacy of a reflective journaling intervention-"Me Through Time"- in decreasing levels of derailment, and its impact on downstream depressive symptoms.

Detailed description

The population will consist of those who: are considered as emergent adults (18-29 years) with at least moderate to severe depressive symptoms (a score of at least 20 on the BDI-II), moderate anxiety symptoms (a score of at least 10 on the GAD-7), and high levels of derailment (a score of at least 37 on the Derailment Scale). Main research questions are as follows: * Does the "Me Through Time" journaling intervention predict decreased derailment and depressive symptoms at post-assessment compared to the severity of pre-assessment derailment and depressive symptoms? * Are post-assessment derailment and depressive symptoms lower for those who engaged in the "Me Through Time" journaling intervention compared to a control journaling intervention? Participants will be asked to complete structured journal entries over the course of 5 sessions over 2 weeks, whereby each session addresses a different critical time period. These include: (1) first semester of college, (2) high school years, (3) middle school years, (4) early childhood, and finally (5) desired future. Participants will also be tasked with completing several assessment scales both before and after completing the "Me Through Time" journaling experience, as well as at the midway point. The investigators will compare an experimental group engaging in the novel, derailment-focused "Me Through Time" journaling intervention with a control group engaging in a neutral, non-identity-based reflective journaling activity spanning the same time period as the "Me Through Time" intervention to see if post-assessment derailment and depressive symptoms are lower for those who engaged in the "Me Through Time" journaling intervention compared to the control journaling intervention. The investigators hypothesize that those in the experimental condition will endorse significantly lower derailment and depressive symptoms at T2 than those in the control condition. Further, the investigators hypothesize significant decreases in T1 to T2 depressive symptoms and derailment for those in the experimental condition, but not in the control condition.

Conditions

• Depression
• Depressive Symptoms
• Derailment
• Anxiety

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Derailment-Focused Reflective Journaling	Experimental group aimed at decreasing anxiety symptoms
OTHER	Everyday Tasks Reflective Journaling	Control group

Timeline

• Start date: 2024-02-15
• Primary completion: 2024-03-12
• Completion: 2024-03-12
• First posted: 2024-02-20
• Last updated: 2024-10-02

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States