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A pilot study on the effects and feasibility of compassion-focused expressive writing in Day Hospice patients

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 April 2012

Susan Imrie  and
Nicholas A. Troop
Susan Imrie
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, University of Hertfordshire, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom
Nicholas A. Troop*
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, University of Hertfordshire, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Nicholas Troop, School of Psychology, University of Hertfordshire, College Lane, Hatfield, Herts AL10 9AB, U.K. E-mail: n.a.troop@herts.ac.uk
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Abstract

Objective:

Research has found that writing about stress can confer physical and psychological health benefits on participants and that adopting a self-compassionate stance may have additional benefits. This pilot study evaluated a self-compassionate expressive writing intervention in a Day Hospice setting.

Method:

Thirteen patients with life-limiting illnesses wrote on two occasions about recent stressful experiences. Half also received a self-compassion instruction for their writing. Outcome measures were taken at baseline and one week after the second writing session, and text analysis was used to identify changes in the types of words used, reflecting changes in psychological processes.

Results:

Patients given the self-compassion instruction increased in their self-soothing and self-esteem in contrast to patients in the stress-only condition. Happiness broadly increased in both groups although reported levels of stress generally increased in patients given the self-compassion instruction but decreased in patients in the stress-only condition. Those given the self-compassion instruction also increased in their use of causal reasoning words across the two writing sessions compared with those in the stress-only condition.

Significance of Results:

Expressive writing appears to be beneficial in patients at a hospice and was viewed as valuable by participants. The inclusion of a self-compassion instruction may have additional benefits and a discussion of the feasibility of implementing expressive writing sessions in a Day Hospice is offered.

Keywords

expressive writingstressself-compassion
Type
Original Articles
Information
Palliative & Supportive Care , Volume 10 , Issue 2 , June 2012 , pp. 115 - 122
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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