Recruiting

Forgiveness-Based Writing

Sponsor:

South Central VA Mental Illness Research, Education & Clinical Center

Code:

NCT00861666

Conditions

Stress Disorders, Traumatic

Anxiety Disorders

PTSD

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18 - 64

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Interventions

Forgiveness-Based Writing

Study Details

Brief summary:

The purpose of this study is to evaluate a forgiveness-based writing intervention in an open trial with 20 Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF) veterans who have recently experienced combat-related trauma to:

1. Determine the feasibility of delivering the intervention.
2. Evaluate the acceptability of the intervention.
3. Collect preliminary outcome data on PTSD symptoms, depression, anxiety, anger, and forgiveness.

Conditions

Stress Disorders, Traumatic

Anxiety Disorders

PTSD

Study ID

NCT00861666

Start date

Oct, 2008

Status verified date

Jun, 2009

Completion date

Jul, 2009

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Jul, 2009

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18 - 64

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Men and women of all racial/ethnic backgrounds between the ages of 18 and 64, seen in the identified settings (veteran participants must be OEF/OIF).
  • Presence of sub-threshold PTSD as defined by Blanchard et al. (1994), related to combat experienced in the past 2 years.
  • Ability to read, write, and speak English.
  • Ability to attend on-site baseline and follow-up appointments.
  • Ability to be contacted by phone with study reminders.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Primary psychotic disorder unrelated to PTSD.
  • Impaired cognitive functioning.
  • Current suicidal or homicidal intent.
  • Symptoms meeting full PTSD diagnostic criteria.

Study Design

Enrollment

20 participants

Anticipated

Allocation

Non randomized

Intervention Model

Single group

Primary purpose

Prevention

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

other: Forgiveness-based Writing

Interventions

Forgiveness-Based Writing

Participants will be asked to complete self-report measures during the initial session, will be given writing instructions and will complete the first writing task on-site. The first writing task will focus on describing an offense in which someone hurt or angered the participant, and about which the participant is still hurt and angry.

Eleven additional writing tasks will be completed at home, three per week for a month. Writing assignments will include topics such as describing thoughts and feelings about the offense, identifying possible motives or mitigating circumstances, identifying benefits of the offense itself, identifying times when one has offended others and how one felt afterwards, identifying benefits of letting go of the offense, and writing a letter to the offender.

Participants will return each written assignment to the study staff. All participants will be tracked closely by the study coordinator and receive a reminder phone call on the day of each writing task.

Primary outcome measure

  • TEI-SF (Treatment Evaluation Inventory-Short Form) [ Time Frame: One-month follow-up ]
  • CSQ-8 (Client Satisfaction Questionnaire) [ Time Frame: One-month follow-up ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Catherine R. Barber, PhD

713-873-5134romeroc@bcm.tmc.edu

Alexandra Shepherd, B.S.

713-794-8821shepherd.alexandra@gmail.com

Locations

Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center

Recruiting

Houston, Texas, United States, 77030

Contacts

Catherine R. Barber, Ph.D.

713-873-5143romeroc@bcm.tmc.edu

Alexandra Shepherd, B.S.

713-794-8821shepherd.alexandra@gmail.com

More Information

Sponsor

South Central VA Mental Illness Research, Education & Clinical Center

Last update posted

Jun 3, 2009

Last verified

Jun, 2009

Keywords

  • Forgiveness
  • Writing
  • PTSD
  • OEF
  • OIF
  • Veterans

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-09-10. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by South Central VA Mental Illness Research, Education & Clinical Center on 2009-06-03.