TY  - JOUR
AU  - Smyth, Joshua M
AU  - Johnson, Jillian A
AU  - Auer, Brandon J
AU  - Lehman, Erik
AU  - Talamo, Giampaolo
AU  - Sciamanna, Christopher N
PY  - 2018
DA  - 2018/12/10
TI  - Online Positive Affect Journaling in the Improvement of Mental Distress and Well-Being in General Medical Patients With Elevated Anxiety Symptoms: A Preliminary Randomized Controlled Trial
JO  - JMIR Ment Health
SP  - e11290
VL  - 5
IS  - 4
KW  - adult
KW  - anxiety
KW  - depression
KW  - emotions
KW  - expressed emotion
KW  - internet
KW  - stress, psychological/physiopathology
KW  - surveys and questionnaires
KW  - treatment outcome
KW  - writing
AB  - Background: Positive affect journaling (PAJ), an emotion-focused self-regulation intervention, has been associated with positive outcomes among medical populations. It may be adapted for Web-based dissemination to address a need for scalable, evidence-based psychosocial interventions among distressed patients with medical conditions. Objective: This study aimed to examine the impact of a 12-week Web-based PAJ intervention on psychological distress and quality of life in general medical patients. Methods: A total of 70 adults with various medical conditions and elevated anxiety symptoms were recruited from local clinics and randomly assigned to a Web-based PAJ intervention (n=35) or usual care (n=35). The intervention group completed 15-min Web-based PAJ sessions on 3 days each week for 12 weeks. At baseline and the end of months 1 through 3, surveys of psychological, interpersonal, and physical well-being were completed. Results: Patients evidenced moderate sustained adherence to Web-based intervention. PAJ was associated with decreased mental distress and increased well-being relative to baseline. PAJ was also associated with less depressive symptoms and anxiety after 1 month and greater resilience after the first and second month, relative to usual care. Conclusions: Web-based PAJ may serve as an effective intervention for mitigating mental distress, increasing well-being, and enhancing physical functioning among medical populations. PAJ may be integrated into routine medical care to improve quality of life. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01873599; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01873599 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/73ZGFzD2Z) 
SN  - 2368-7959
UR  - http://mental.jmir.org/2018/4/e11290/
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2196/11290
UR  - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30530460
DO  - 10.2196/11290
ID  - info:doi/10.2196/11290
ER  -