Evaluating a written emotional disclosure homework intervention for lower-limb amputees.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE:

To evaluate the Pennebaker Emotional Disclosure paradigm with lower-limb amputee patients in terms of compliance and efficacy.

DESIGN:

Repeated measures.

SETTING:

Home based.

PARTICIPANTS:

Low compliance, both with the initial mailed request (28%) and the subsequent writing task (48%), resulted in 23 lower-limb amputees who had been fitted with a prosthesis participating.

INTERVENTIONS:

Patients completed a 15-minute writing task, 6 times, over 2 weeks, with initial baseline and 2-month follow-up assessments.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:

Cognitive processing, well-being, adjustment to an artificial limb, pain, and prosthetic use.

RESULTS:

Stronger emotional disclosure was associated with significant reductions in psychologic and physical aspects of amputees' satisfaction with their prosthesis, some of which were mediated by positive changes in affect immediately after the writing tasks.

CONCLUSIONS:

Our results failed to support previous findings with nonclinical samples; in fact, our results contradicted previous findings. We therefore caution that written emotional disclosure may be contraindicated with lower-limb amputee patients.

• Authors: Pamela Gallagher, Malcolm Maclachlan
• Journal: Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitation (Arch Phys Med Rehabil) Vol. 83 Issue 10 Pg. 1464-6 (Oct 2002) ISSN: 0003-9993 [Print] United States
• PMID: 12370888 (Publication Type: Evaluation Study, Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)
• Copyright: Copyright 2002 by the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine and the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation

Topics

• Amputees (psychology)
• Artificial Limbs (psychology)
• Disclosure
• Emotions
• Female
• Humans
• Male
• Middle Aged