Abstract
This study explored the effects of expressive writing on positive and negative outcomes related to perceived psychosocial and health status among persons with HIV. This was the first study to examine the moderating effects of cognitive adaptability—consisting of dispositional optimism coupled with perceived competence—on outcomes of expressive writing. Thirty-seven participants wrote about either traumatic experiences or trivial topics in four 20-min sessions. Dependent measures obtained at baseline were repeated 1 month later. Although no main effects for group were found, baseline levels of cognitive adaptability were differentially associated with changes in a positive outcomes index, and a pain and physical functioning index in those assigned to the two groups. No moderating effects of cognitive adaptability were found for changes in a negative outcomes index. Findings underscore the importance of identification of moderating variables in understanding the impact of expressive writing interventions among individuals with HIV or other conditions.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Antonovsky, A. (1993). The structure and properties of the sense of coherence scale. Social Science & Medicine, 36, 725–733. doi:10.1016/0277-9536(93)90033-Z.
Broderick, J. E., Junghaenel, D. U., & Schwartz, J. E. (2005). Written emotional expression produces health benefits in fibromyalgia patients. Psychosomatic Medicine, 67, 326–334. doi:10.1097/01.psy.0000156933.04566.bd.
Burack, J. H., Barrett, D. C., Stall, R. D., Chesney, M. A., Ekstrand, M. L., & Coates, T. J. (1993). Depressive symptoms and CD4 lymphocyte decline among HIV-infected men. Journal of the American Medical Association, 270, 2568–2573. doi:10.1001/jama.270.21.2568.
Byrnes, D. M., Antoni, M. H., Goodkin, K., Efantis-Potter, J., Asthana, D., Simon, T., et al. (1998). Stressful events, pessimism, natural killer cytotoxicity, and cytotoxic/suppressor T cell in HIV+ black women at risk for cervical cancer. Psychosomatic Medicine, 60, 714–722.
Cameron, L. D., & Nicholls, G. (1998). Expression of stressful experiences through writing: Effects of a self-regulation manipulation for pessimists and optimists. Health Psychology, 17, 84–92. doi:10.1037/0278-6133.17.1.84.
Carver, C. S., Scheier, M. F., & Weintraub, J. K. (1989). Assessing coping strategies: A theoretically based approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56, 267–283. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.56.2.267.
Cohen, S., Kamarck, T., & Mermelstein, R. (1983). A global measure of perceived stress. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 24, 385–396. doi:10.2307/2136404.
Cole, S. W., Kemeny, M. E., Taylor, S. E., Visscher, B. R., & Fahey, J. L. (1996). Accelerated course of human immunodeficiency virus infection in gay men who conceal their homosexual identity. Psychosomatic Medicine, 58, 219–231.
Eriksson, M., & Lindström, B. (2006). Antonovsky’s sense of coherence scale and the relation with health: A systematic review. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 60, 376–381. doi:10.1136/jech.2005.041616.
Frattaroli, J. (2006). Experimental disclosure and its moderators: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 132, 823–865. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.132.6.823.
Gillis, M. E., Lumley, M. A., Mosley-Williams, A., Leisen, J. C., & Roehrs, T. (2006). The health effects of at-home written emotional disclosure in fibromylagia: A randomized trial. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 32, 135–146. doi:10.1207/s15324796abm3202_11.
Greenberg, M. A., & Stone, A. A. (1992). Emotional disclosure about traumas and its relation to health: Effects of previous disclosure and trauma severity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63, 75–84. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.63.1.75.
Greenberg, M. A., Wortman, C. B., & Stone, A. A. (1996). Emotional expression and physical health: Revising traumatic memories or fostering self-regulation? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71, 588–602. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.71.3.588.
Harris, A. H. S., Thoresen, C. E., Humphreys, K., & Faul, J. (2005). Does writing affect asthma? A randomized trial. Psychosomatic Medicine, 67, 130–136. doi:10.1097/01.psy.0000146345.73510.d5.
Helgeson, V. S. (2003). Cognitive adaptation, psychological adjustment, and disease progression among angioplasty patients: 4 years later. Health Psychology, 22, 30–38. doi:10.1037/0278-6133.22.1.30.
Helgeson, V. S., & Fritz, H. L. (1999). Cognitive adaptation as a predictor of new coronary events after percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty. Psychosomatic Medicine, 61, 488–495.
Ickovics, J. R., Milan, S., Boland, R., Schoenbaum, E., Schuman, P., & Vlahov, D. (2006). Psychological resources protect health: 5-year survival and immune function among HIV-infected women from four US cities. AIDS (London, England), 20, 1851–1860. doi:10.1097/01.aids.0000244204.95758.15.
Klein, K., & Boals, A. (2001). Expressive writing can increase working memory capacity. Journal of Experimental Psychology. General, 130, 520–533. doi:10.1037/0096-3445.130.3.520.
Lepore, S. J. (1997). Expressive writing moderates the relation between intrusive thoughts and depressive symptoms. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73, 1030–1037. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.73.5.1030.
Leserman, J., Jackson, E. D., Petitto, J. M., Golden, R. N., Silva, S. G., Perkins, D. O., et al. (1999). Progression to AIDS: The effects of stress, depressive symptoms, and social support. Psychosomatic Medicine, 61, 397–406.
Lumley, M. A. (2004). Alexithymia, emotional disclosure, and health: A program of research. Journal of Personality, 72, 1271–1300. doi:10.1111/j.1467-6494.2004.00297.x.
Lumley, M. A., & Provenzano, K. M. (2003). Stress management through written emotional disclosure improves academic performance among college students with physical symptoms. Journal of Educational Psychology, 95, 641–649. doi:10.1037/0022-0663.95.3.641.
Mann, T. (2001). Effects of future writing and optimism on health behaviors in HIV-infected women. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 23, 26–33. doi:10.1207/S15324796ABM2301_5.
Marston, C. B. (2003). Written emotional expression, and its relation to psychological and physical health variables among people with HIV disease. Dissertation Abstracts International: Section B: The Sciences and Engineering, 64(2-B), 969.
Norman, S. A., Lumley, M. A., Dooley, J. A., & Diamond, M. P. (2004). For whom does it work? Moderators of the effects of written emotional disclosure in a randomized trial among women with chronic pelvic pain. Psychosomatic Medicine, 66, 174–183. doi:10.1097/01.psy.0000116979.77753.74.
Paez, D., Velasco, C., & Gonzalez, J. L. (1999). Expressive writing and the role of alexithymia as a dispositional deficit in self-disclosure and psychological health. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77, 630–641. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.77.3.630.
Pennebaker, J. W. (2004). Theories, therapies, and taxpayers: On the complexities of the expressive writing paradigm. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 11, 138–142. doi:10.1093/clipsy/bph063.
Pennebaker, J. W., & Beall, S. K. (1986). Confronting a traumatic event: Toward understanding of inhibition and disease. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 95, 274–281. doi:10.1037/0021-843X.95.3.274.
Pennebaker, J. W., Colder, M., & Sharp, L. K. (1990). Accelerating the coping process. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58, 528–537. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.58.3.528.
Pennebaker, J. W., Hughes, C. F., & O’Heeron, R. C. (1987). The psychophysiology of confession: Linking inhibitory and psychosomatic processes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52, 781–793. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.52.4.781.
Petrie, K. J., Fontanilla, I., Thomas, M. G., Booth, R. J., & Pennebaker, J. W. (2004). Effects of written emotional expression on immune function in patients with human immunodeficiency virus infection: A randomized trial. Psychosomatic Medicine, 66, 272–275. doi:10.1097/01.psy.0000116782.49850.d3.
Reed, G. M., Kemeny, M. E., Taylor, S. E., & Visscher, B. R. (1999). Negative HIV-specific expectancies and AIDS-related bereavement as predictors of symptom onset in asymptomatic HIV-positive gay men. Health Psychology, 18, 354–363. doi:10.1037/0278-6133.18.4.354.
Reed, G. M., Kemeny, M. E., Taylor, S. E., Wang, H. Y., & Visscher, B. R. (1994). Realistic acceptance as a predictor of decreased survival time in gay men with AIDS. Health Psychology, 13, 299–307. doi:10.1037/0278-6133.13.4.299.
Revicki, D. A., Sorensen, S., & Wu, A. W. (1998). Reliability and validity of physical and mental health summary scores from the Medical Outcomes Study HIV Health Survey. Medical Care, 2, 126–137. doi:10.1097/00005650-199802000-00003.
Rivkin, I. D., Gustafson, J., Weingarten, I., & Chin, D. (2006). The effects of expressive writing on adjustment to HIV. AIDS and Behavior, 10, 13–26. doi:10.1007/s10461-005-9051-9.
Scheier, M. F., & Carver, C. S. (1985). Optimism, coping, and health: Assessment and implications of generalized outcome expectancies. Health Psychology, 4, 219–247. doi:10.1037/0278-6133.4.3.219.
Sirois, F. M., Davis, C. G., & Morgan, M. S. (2006). “Learning to live with what you can’t rise above”: Control beliefs, symptom control, and adjustment to tinnitus. Health Psychology, 25, 119–123. doi:10.1037/0278-6133.25.1.119.
Sloan, D. M., & Marx, B. P. (2004). Taking pen to hand: Evaluating theories underlying the written disclosure paradigm. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 11, 121–137. doi:10.1093/clipsy/bph062.
Smith, C. A., Dobbins, C. J., & Wallston, K. A. (1991). The mediational role of perceived competence in psychological adjustment to rheumatoid arthritis. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 21, 1218–1247. doi:10.1111/j.1559-1816.1991.tb00467.x.
Smyth, J. M. (1998). Written emotional expression: Effect sizes, outcome types, and moderating variables. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 66, 174–184. doi:10.1037/0022-006X.66.1.174.
Smyth, J. M., Stone, A. A., Hurewitz, A., & Kaell, A. (1999). Effects of writing about stressful experiences on symptom reduction in patients with asthma or rheumatoid arthritis. Journal of the American Medical Association, 281, 1304–1309. doi:10.1001/jama.281.14.1304.
Spera, S. P., Buhrfeind, E. D., & Pennebaker, J. W. (1994). Expressive writing and coping with job loss. Academy of Management Journal, 37, 722–733. doi:10.2307/256708.
Stanton, A. L., Danoff-Burg, S., Sworowski, L. A., Collins, C. A., Branstetter, A. D., Rodriguez-Hanley, A., et al. (2002). Randomized control trial of written emotional expression and benefit finding in breast cancer patients. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 20, 4160–4168. doi:10.1200/JCO.2002.08.521.
Stiegelis, H. E., Hagedoorn, M., Sanderman, R., van der Zee, K. I., Buunk, B. P., & van den Bergh, A. C. (2003). Cognitive adaptation: A comparison of cancer patients. British Journal of Health Psychology, 8, 303–318. doi:10.1348/135910703322370879.
Stroebe, M., Schut, H., & Stroebe, W. (2005). Who benefits from disclosure? Exploration of attachment style differences in the effects of expressing emotions. Clinical Psychology Review, 26, 66–85. doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2005.06.009.
Taylor, S. E. (1983). Adjustment to threatening events: A theory of cognitive adaptation. The American Psychologist, 38, 1161–1173. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.38.11.1161.
Taylor, S. E., Kemeny, M. E., Bower, J. E., Gruenewald, T. L., & Reed, G. M. (2000). Psychological resources, positive illusions, and health. The American Psychologist, 55, 99–109. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.55.1.99.
Tennen, H., Affleck, G., Urrows, S., Higgins, P., & Mendola, R. (1992). Perceiving control, construing benefits, and daily processes in rheumatoid arthritis. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science, 24, 186–203. doi:10.1037/h0078709.
Thompson, S. C., Collins, M. A., Newcomb, M. D., & Hunt, W. (1996). On fighting versus accepting stressful circumstances: Primary and secondary control among HIV-positive men in prison. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70, 1307–1317. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.70.6.1307.
Walker, B. L., Nail, L. M., & Croyle, R. T. (1999). Does emotional expression make a difference in reactions to breast cancer? Oncology Nursing Forum, 26, 1025–1032.
Warner, L. J., Lumley, M. A., Casey, R. J., Pierantoni, W., Salazar, R., Zoratti, E. M., et al. (2006). Health effects of written emotional disclosure in adolescents with asthma: A randomized, controlled trial. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 31, 557–568. doi:10.1093/jpepsy/jsj048.
Watson, D., Clark, L. A., & Tellegen, A. (1988). Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: The PANAS scales. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 1063–1070. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.54.6.1063.
Wu, A. W., Revicki, D. A., Jacobson, D., & Malitz, F. E. (1997). Evidence for reliability, validity, and usefulness of the Medical Outcomes Study HIV Health Survey (MOS-HIV). Quality of Life Research, 6, 481–493. doi:10.1023/A:1018451930750.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wagner, L.J., Hilker, K.A., Hepworth, J.T. et al. Cognitive Adaptability as a Moderator of Expressive Writing Effects in an HIV Sample. AIDS Behav 14, 410–420 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-008-9427-8
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-008-9427-8