Clinical trial NCT04207528: Campus Life Study: Harnessing Generativity Among Young Adults
Official title: The Effects of Prosocial Writing on Psychological Well-being: A Randomized Controlled Trial Among Young Adults
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Healthy Young Adults
Lead sponsor: University of California, Los Angeles
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2019-12-23
Enrollment: 165
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: BASIC_SCIENCE

Brief summary: Recent research suggests that short, online interventions can enhance well-being, which is beneficial to both physical and mental health outcomes. Further, growing evidence suggests that prosocial behavior-a behavior that can be reliably manipulated through a short online intervention-may have beneficial effects on well-being and physical health. Giving support to others appears to be just as beneficial as receiving support, and asking people to perform kind acts for others over the course of several weeks, for example, has been shown to both increase well-being and reduce the inflammatory potential of immune cells.

The purpose of the current study is to test a novel 3-week, online prosocial writing-based intervention in a sample of young adults. Previous intervention studies have manipulated prosocial behavior by asking participants to perform tangible acts of kindness for others, such as writing a note to a coworker or helping a neighbor. However, providing this type of direct support can be logistically challenging and may contribute to increased feelings of distress in certain contexts. Writing interventions designed to elicit feelings of generativity offer one alternative approach, though they have yet to be tested among young adults.

Participants (n = 200) will be randomized to one of two conditions--peer helping or a facts-only control--and instructed to write about their experiences in their first-year at UCLA (freshman or first-year after transfer). Those in the peer helping will be asked to write for the benefit of a student who is about to begin their first year, whereas those in the facts-only control will not. In total, participants will complete 4 writing assignments, each on a separate day over the course of one week. Valid self-report measures will be assessed at pre-intervention, each writing session, post-intervention, and at the 2-week follow-up. The investigators expect participants in the peer helping condition to experience a greater increase in well-being (primary outcome) across the intervention and the follow-up when compared to the control condition. Secondary outcomes will include depressive symptoms, anxiety, loneliness, physical symptoms, social support, and generativity. As an exploratory aim, will also assess several moderators (i.e., psychological distress, prosocial tendencies, generativity) and mediators (i.e., fulfillment of psychological needs, positive affect) of the intervention effects.


Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* enrolled in an upper-division psychology course
* 18 years of age or older
* fluent in English
* access to the internet and email

Exclusion Criteria:

* none

Primary outcomes:
measure: Change in psychological well-being
timeFrame: At the baseline survey (1 day before the intervention begins), at the post-intervention survey (2 days after the final writing assignment), and and at the 2-week follow-up
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Change in depressive symptoms
timeFrame: At the baseline survey (1 day before the intervention begins), at the post-intervention survey (2 days after the final writing assignment), and and at the 2-week follow-up
measure: Change in anxiety and worry
timeFrame: At the baseline survey (1 day before the intervention begins), at the post-intervention survey (2 days after the final writing assignment), and and at the 2-week follow-up
measure: Change in loneliness
timeFrame: At the baseline survey (1 day before the intervention begins), at the post-intervention survey (2 days after the final writing assignment), and and at the 2-week follow-up
measure: Change in physical symptoms and health-care center visits
timeFrame: At the baseline survey (1 day before the intervention begins), at the post-intervention survey (2 days after the final writing assignment), and and at the 2-week follow-up
measure: Change in sleep disturbance
timeFrame: At the baseline survey (1 day before the intervention begins), at the post-intervention survey (2 days after the final writing assignment), and and at the 2-week follow-up
measure: Change in social support
timeFrame: At the baseline survey (1 day before the intervention begins), at the post-intervention survey (2 days after the final writing assignment), and and at the 2-week follow-up
measure: Change in generativity
timeFrame: At the baseline survey (1 day before the intervention begins), at the post-intervention survey (2 days after the final writing assignment), and and at the 2-week follow-up
measure: Change in positive and negative affect
timeFrame: At the baseline survey (1 day before the intervention begins), at the post-intervention survey (2 days after the final writing assignment), and and at the 2-week follow-up
measure: Change in fulfillment of psychological needs
timeFrame: At the baseline survey (1 day before the intervention begins), at the post-intervention survey (2 days after the final writing assignment), and and at the 2-week follow-up
Other outcomes:
measure: Prosocial Tendencies (Moderator)
timeFrame: At the baseline survey (1 day before the intervention begins)
Locations:
city: Los Angeles
country: United States
facility: University of California, Los Angeles
state: California
Study officials:
References: