AIM's Writing for Healing: A Workshop for Individuals Living With Paralysis

Trial statusRecruiting
Trial phaseNot listed
Trial typeObservational
Biological sexAll
Age18+
SponsorUniversity of Alabama at Birmingham

About this trial

The UAB Institute for Arts In Medicine (AIM) is currently implementing an expressive emotional writing pilot project for adults with paralysis caused by neurological conditions such as traumatic head or spinal cord injury.

Eligibility criteria

This trial accepts healthy volunteers

Qualifiers

Age 18 or older with paralysis living in the community

limb paralysis resulting from a traumatic event/accident or neurological disease (e.g., spinal cord injury, head injury, stroke, multiple sclerosis, Transverse myelitis, poliomyelitis, peripheral neuropathy, Parkinson's disease, ALS, botulism, and Guillain-Barré syndrome etc) happened after childhood

a non-traumatic spinal cord injury may be caused by arthritis, cancer, inflammation, infections or disk degeneration of the spine

caregivers of people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Disqualifiers

known maladaptive behavioral patterns, exhibition of overt psychotic symptoms (e.g., presence of hallucinations, delusions, or thought disorders)

congenital (e.g., spinal bifida, cerebral palsy)

Trial population

Sex: both Race/Ethnicity: all Age: aged 18 years or above Health status: Healthy

Trial design

Design model

Cohort

Time perspective

Prospective

Treatments tested in this trial

Not listed

Trial groups

160 Participants
are grouped into 1 trial group
Group A: People with SCI

Trial outcomes

Primary outcomes

1

The Grief and Loss Scale

(Kalpakjian et al., 2015) is a 9-item measure of an individual's emotional reactions or grief such as anger, guilt, anxiety, sadness, and despair in the past 7 days, using a 5-point scale (1=never) to 5 (always). The scores range from 9 to 45. Higher scores reflect higher degree of grief and loss.

Time frame
11 Weeks
2

Emotional Distress - Depression

Short Form 8b. It is a part of the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS). It is an 8-item measure of an individual's emotional distress (depression) in the past 7 days, using a 5-point scale (1=never) to 5 (always). The scores range from 8 to 40. Higher scores reflect higher degree of emotional distress (depression)

Time frame
11 Weeks
3

Perceived Stress Scale

PSS) (Cohen et al. 1988) is a 10-item measure of frequency of an individual experiencing stress in the past month, using a 5-point scale (1=never) to (5=very often). Four positively stated items require reversed coding. The scores range from 10 to 50. Higher scores reflect higher frequency of experiencing stress.

Time frame
11 Weeks
4

Impact of Events Scale

(Weiss, 2007). It is a 6-item measure of an individual's distress related to different difficulties in the past 7 days, using a 5-point scale (0=not at all) to 4 (extremely). The scores range from 0 to 24. Higher scores reflect greater distress.

Time frame
11 Weeks

Secondary outcomes

1

Cortisol level

Hair cortisol level

Time frame
11 weeks
2

Quality of Life During Serious Illness - Family Carers

It consists of 16 statements that family carers rated on a 11-point scale from 0 - 10 that best represents how they feel. Some items require reversed coding. Higher scores denote better quality of life.

Time frame
11 weeks
3

Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS)

It has 14 items rated on a 4-point scale with higher scores indicating more anxiety and depressive symptoms. Some items require reverse scoring.

Time frame
11 weeks
4

Caregiver Burden Inventory

It has 24 items rated on a 5-point scale with higher scores indicating higher frequent of experiencing caregiver burden.

Time frame
11 weeks

Other outcomes

Sponsors and contacts

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