This group will receive the writing intervention.

Writing Intervention

The overall purpose of this study is to develop and pilot-test a theory-based psychosocial supportive "finding balance" intervention for older, bereaved spousal caregivers of a palliative cancer patient.

Research devoted to determining the efficacy of bereavement interventions remains a top priority. The development of theory-based, acceptable and feasible psychosocial interventions would begin to address the needs of family caregivers. A prominent theory of coping with bereavement, Stroebe and Schut's Dual Process Model, describes oscillation between loss-oriented and restoration-oriented coping; having a balance between these processes predicted more positive outcomes for older bereaved spouses. Similarly, the process of "finding balance" emerged as a first step in the search for new hope in the PI's grounded theory research with older bereaved family caregivers. They described the importance and difficulty of "finding balance" as they recovered from caregiving and struggled to find a new meaning and purpose for their lives after the loss of a spouse to cancer. An intervention focused on "finding balance" provides an innovative and promising approach to guiding the development of a theory-based psychosocial intervention for family caregivers who become bereaved. In clinical work a highly focused writing intervention has shown important benefits (personal communication, Dr. Robert Neimeyer, March 4, 2009). A validated tool to measure the effectiveness of an intervention to find balance does not exist, however valid existing measures of hope, grief, and an inventory of balance based on the Dual Process Model will be used as proxies. Therefore, the overall purpose of this study is to develop and pilot-test a theory-based psychosocial supportive "finding balance" intervention for older, bereaved spousal caregivers of a palliative cancer patient.

A Finding Balance Writing Intervention for Older Bereaved Caregivers

Finding Balance: The Experience of Hope for Bereaved Caregivers of Palliative Cancer Patients

Herth Hope Index, Hogan Grief Scale, Inventory of Daily Widowed Life, Finding Balance Scale

Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation

University of Saskatchewan

Associate Professor

Neoplasms

Skin and Connective Tissue Diseases

All Conditions

Breast Neoplasms

Breast Diseases

Skin Diseases

emotional disclosure writing intervention

Participants in the emotional disclosure condition will be instructed to write continuously for 20 minutes about their deepest thoughts and feelings regarding their cancer experience.

Participants assigned to the control condition will be instructed to describe in a detailed, nonemotional manner their daily activities. The 20-minute writing task will be introduced as a time management intervention

Katherine DuHamel, PhD

We are doing this study to see if writing about life experiences helps women adjust to breast cancer that has spread. We will compare two groups. One group will write about their breast cancer experience. The other will write about their daily activities. What we learn from this study may help us to find new ways to help women cope with breast cancer that has spread.

Study title	NCT ID	Conditions	Interventions	Eligibility	Organization
A Finding Balance Writing Intervention for Older Bereaved Caregivers	NCT01416779	Grief	Writing Interve...	60 Years -	University of Saskatchewan
A Finding Balance Writing Intervention for Older Bereaved Caregivers	NCT01416779	Grief	Writing Interve...	60 Years -	University of Saskatchewan
Expressive Writing and Adjustment to Metastatic Breast Cancer	NCT00624156	Metastatic Brea...	Writing Interve... Writing Interve...	18 Years -	Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

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