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OpenTrials
Completed

NCT Number: NCT01912157

Couples Coping With Multiple Chronic Medical Conditions

Handling of complex health situations (as defined by multimorbidity) in partnership: communication between romantic partners; subjective illness perception; coping with stressful experiences due to multimorbidity.

Intervention : Expressive Writing about subjective illness perception vs. Writing about individual Time-Management Primary Endpoint: subjective Health (e.g. SF 12 questionnaire) Secondary Endpoints: Psychosocial Adjustments (Depression, somatic symptoms, quality of partnership and others)

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Key information

Conditions

Chronic Disease Behavior Disease Attributes Illness Behavior Pathologic Processes Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms

Age range

18 year and older

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

University Hospital Zurich, Internal Medicine

Zurich, Canton of Zurich, 8091, Switzerland

About this study

Coping in complex health situations (as defined by multimorbidity) and the role of relationship processes for psycho-social adaption: The study investigates interpersonal emotion regulation, disclosure, and illness perceptions in couples with a multimorbid patient. The intervention consists in 3 self-applied solitary written disclosure sessions (expressive writing), the control condition are 3 sessions writing about individual time-management (placebo).

Primary endpoint: subjective health (SF 12 questionnaire) Secondary endpoint: psychosocial adjustments (depression, positive and negative affect, somatic symptoms, adjustment disorder, marital satisfaction, sleep quality)

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: No

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • Age 18 or older
  • multimorbid condition (two or more chronic medical conditions)
  • patients living with romantic partner
  • very good oral and written command in German
  • written consent for participation by patient and partner

Exclusion criteria

  • Pregnancy
  • Mini Mental State less than 26
  • Substance Abuse
  • Patients in Palliative Situation
  • Patients isolated due to infectious diseases
  • Patients participating in other clinical trials within the last 4 weeks before inclusion

Treatment and study plan

Expressive writing

Behavioral

The intervention consists in 3 self-applied solitary written disclosure sessions (expressive writing)

Primary outcomes

  1. Subjective health (SF-12)

    Time frame: 3 months

Secondary outcomes

  1. Psychosocial adjustments

    Time frame: 3 months

    depression, positive and negative affect, somatic symptoms, adjustment disorder, marital satisfaction, sleep quality

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

University of Zurich

Other

Registry information

Official study title

Couples Coping With Multimorbidity: Does Solitary Expressive Writing Foster Psycho-social Adaptation?

Acronym: GUGKS

Important dates

Study start
2013
Primary completion
2017
Study completion
2018
First posted
Jul 30, 2013
Registry last updated
Dec 31, 2018

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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