An interventional study of Self-affirmation and Positive living counseling in Self-affirmation Plus Positive Living Counseling and Counseling, sponsored by University of California, Santa Barbara. Completed. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2023-12-07.
Sponsored by University of California, Santa Barbara · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment
This study is interested in the stress associated with being HIV positive and looking at ways to reduce that stress. Individuals who are HIV positive face a number of nontrivial threats and stressors: the burden of illness, loss of work, stigmatization, and the chance of death. The study investigates the use of self-affirmation to reduce some of these threats and stressors. Self-affirmation may helping people to cope with these threats and stressors by reminding individuals of other valued aspects of themselves, thus reducing the impact, both psychologically and physiologically, of these threats. Experimentally induced affirmations in which individuals are asked to write about values that are important to the self have been shown to reduce physiological stress among healthy student populations (Sherman, Bunyan, Creswell, \& Jaremka, 2009).
This research will be conducted in collaboration with the global health organizations, PSI who is already providing counseling to those living with HIV on how to reduce the spread of HIV and how to live a healthy life with HIV. These counseling sessions take place at local clinics and hospitals while individuals are waiting to be seen for treatment and are completely voluntary.
University of California, Santa Barbara is the lead sponsor of 14 studies on the registry; 6 are open to participants now.
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Exclusion Criteria:
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Participants completed a written self-affirmation manipulation before completing the standard counseling provided by the clinic.
Behavioral: Self-affirmation · Behavioral: Positive living counseling
Participants completed the standard counseling provided by the clinic (treatment as usual control condition).
Behavioral: Positive living counseling
Individuals select important values and then write about why that value is important to them.
Each of the clinics from which participants were recruited conducts positive living counseling as part of their treatment programs. This counseling is conducted by counselors who are trained and monitored by the Lesotho Network of AIDS Support Organizations (LENASO) and consistent with the positive prevention framework (see Bunnell et al., 2005 for description). Each counseling session focused on addressing positive living goals such as the importance of taking one's medications on time and every day, using protection with every partner, and the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
Perceived Stress Scale
Participants were asked to complete an abbreviated version of the Perceived Stress Scale (Cohen, Kamarck, \& Mermelstein, 1983), a well validated measure of participants' current stress. For this scale, participants are asked to rate their agreement with statements such as "Today, I feel nervous and stressed" or "Today I feel that difficulties are piling up so high that I cannot overcome them" using a 6-point Likert scale anchored from 1= "Very Much Disagree" to 6 = "Very Much Agree".
Time frame: Post-intervention survey conducted immediately after intervention session
Intrusion subscale of impact of events scale
Participants completed questions regarding their current experience of intrusive thoughts related to HIV adapted from the intrusion subscale of the Impact of Events Scale (Horowitz, Wilner, \& Alvarez, 1979). This measure was designed to assess distress caused by traumatic events. The impact of events scale is a well-validated measure that is often used (in combination with the DSM-IV) to assess post-traumatic stress disorder. In essence, this measure was designed to assess how traumatized participants felt by their HIV diagnosis. Participants rated their agreement with statements such as "Today, any reminder of HIV brings back feelings about it" and "Today, I think about HIV even when I don't mean to" using a 1= "Very Much Disagree" to 6 = "Very Much Agree" scale.
Time frame: Post-intervention survey conducted immediately after intervention session
Concerns about dying
Participants indicated to what extent they were currently concerned about dying using a single item, "Today, I find myself worrying about dying". Participants indicated their agreement with that statement using a 6-point Likert scale from 1= "Very Much Disagree" to 6 = "Very Much Agree", with higher numbers indicating greater worries about dying.
Time frame: Post-intervention survey conducted immediately after intervention session
Distressing emotions related to HIV
Participants indicated to what extent they were experiencing distressing emotions related to HIV on a 5-point Likert scale from 1="Never" to 5="Always", with higher numbers indicating a greater frequency of distressing emotions related to HIV.
Time frame: Post-intervention survey conducted immediately after intervention session
Future behavioral intentions
Participants were asked to rate their agreement with statements regarding their future intentions to engage in positive living behaviors using a 6-point Likert scale from from 1= "Very Much Disagree" to 6 = "Very Much Agree". In particular, participants were asked to indicate their intention to use condoms in the future by indicating their agreement with statements such as, "If a sexual partner didn't want to use condoms, we would have sex without using condoms" or "It is a hassle to use condoms". Participants indicated their intention to take their medications by indicating their agreement with the statements, "I will take my medication regularly" and "I have trouble taking my medication as I am supposed to (reversed)". Additionally, participants indicated their intention to have non-concurrent sexual partners using the statement "I will only have one sexual relationship at a time".
Time frame: Post-intervention survey conducted immediately after intervention session
Physical health measures
In order to assess participants' baseline self-reported health, participants completed the general health subscale of the RAND 36-item Short Form Health Survey, a well-validated measure designed to assess health that is utilized by many health organizations, including Medicare, to assess and monitor healthcare outcomes. Participants were asked to answer five questions regarding their current health using a 5-point Likert scale.
Time frame: Post-intervention survey conducted immediately after intervention session
No study locations are listed for this record.
Plan to share: No
No publications or documents are linked to this record.
Ran from Sep 2014 to primary completion in Jan 2015, 4 months.
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This study is completed, as verified in Dec 2023. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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University of California, Santa Barbara