Chinese Poem Writing for Improving Mental Wellbeing
NCT Number: NCT06581952
Status: ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING
Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
Phases: NA
Conditions: Well-Being, Psychological|Happiness
Interventions: BEHAVIORAL: Poem writing
Sponsor: Hong Kong Metropolitan University
Collaborators: Bestreben Drama Association Limited
Sex: ALL
Age: ADULT, OLDER_ADULT
Enrollment: 30
Study Design: Allocation: NA|Intervention Model: SINGLE_GROUP|Masking: NONE|Primary Purpose: HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH
Start Date: 2024-06-13
Completion Date: 2024-12-31
Locations: Jockey Club Institute of Healthcare, Hong Kong Metropolitan University, Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Summary:
This research proposal aims to explore the impact of poem writing on the well-being of adult volunteers serving patients recovering from mental illness in Hong Kong. The research design was a single-arm intervention study with 30 participants. The intervention consists of two sessions of poem writing, each lasting for 3 hours, led by experienced Chinese teachers or drama directors. The themes of the poems will focus on accomplishment, joy, and gratitude. The primary outcomes are mental well-being and happiness, measured using the Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale and a single-item happiness scale. Feasibility outcomes include recruitment rate, retention rate, and acceptability of the interventions. Secondary outcomes include depressive symptoms, anxiety, interest in poem writing, perceived benefits after the activity, and the number of successfully written poems. The proposal also includes plans for in-depth interviews with participants to gather qualitative data. The results will be analyzed descriptively and narratively, with no efficacy statistical tests due to the nature of this feasibility study. The proposal highlights the potential of poem writing as a therapeutic tool for volunteers serving patients recovering from mental illness, enhancing their overall well-being.

Primary Outcome Measures: Changes in well-being, The 7-item Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale with the 5-point Likert scale ("1" means "None of the time", while "5" means "All the time") will be used to measure participants' well-being. The score is calculated by summing up all seven items and with a range of 7 to 35. A higher score indicates a higher positive mental well-being., Baseline, 2 weeks, 4 weeks, 12 weeks|Changes in happiness, Happiness of participants across four timeslots were measured by a single item question, which was "How happy do you think you are" (from "0" = "Not at all" to "10" = "very happy")., Baseline, 2 weeks, 4 weeks, 12 weeks
Secondary Outcome Measures: Changes in depressive symptoms, The Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ)-9 will be used to measure depressive symptoms among all participants. Participants rate the frequency of nine symptoms over the past two weeks on a 4-point Likert scale (from "0" = "Not at all" to "3" = "Nearly every day"). The total score ranges from 0 to 27, with higher scores indicating a greater severity of depressive symptoms., Baseline, 2 weeks, 4 weeks, 12 weeks|Changes in perceived knowledge about limericks (Chinese poem), The changes in participants' perceived knowledge about limericks (Chinese poem) were measured by a single item question, which was "How much do you know about limericks", scoring from "0" (very little understanding) to "10" (very much understanding)., Baseline, 2 weeks, 4 weeks, 12 weeks|Changes in perceived interest in limericks writing, The changes in participants' perceived interest in limericks writing were measured by a single item question, which was "How interested are you in limerick writing?", scoring from "0" (very little interest) to "10" (very much interest)., Baseline, 2 weeks, 4 weeks, 12 weeks|Changes in perceived confidence in limericks writing, The changes in participants' perceived confidence in limericks writing were measured by a single item question, which was "How confident are you in writing limerick?", scoring from "0" (very little confidence) to "10" (very much confidence)., Baseline, 2 weeks, 4 weeks, 12 weeks|Changes in perceived usefulness of limericks writing, The changes in participants' perceived usefulness of limericks writing were measured by three aspects, which were "improving happiness", "improving accomplishment" and "developing new hobbies", all of them were scoring from "0 " (very little help) to "10" (very much help)., Baseline, 2 weeks, 4 weeks, 12 weeks|The number of successfully written poems, The actual number of successfully written poems will be reported subjectively by participants., 2 weeks, 4 weeks, 12 weeks
Other Outcome Measures: Recruitment rate, The percentage of enrolled participants in the approached participants, 12 weeks|Retention rate, The percentage of adhered participants in the enrolled participants, 2 weeks, 4 weeks|Acceptability of the intervention, Participants' engagement level (from 0 "did not engage at all" to 10 "totally engaged") and happiness level (from 0 "not at all" to 10 "very happy") after joining the activity, satisfaction towards the activity (from 0 "not at all" to 10 "very satisfied"), willingness to write poems after the activity (from 0 "not at all" to 10 "very willing to") and willingness to attend similar activities in the future (from 0 "not at all" to 10 "very willing to"). An average score will be calculated., 2 weeks, 4 weeks