Evaluating a written emotional disclosure homework intervention for lower-limb amputees.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the Pennebaker Emotional Disclosure paradigm with lower-limb amputee patients in terms of compliance and efficacy.


METHODS
Repeated measures.


METHODS
Home based.


METHODS
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.


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


METHODS
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.
Gallagher
Pamela
P
Department of Psychology, Trinity Psychoprosthetics Group, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland.
Maclachlan
Malcolm
M
D000674:Amputees / Q000523:psychology*; D001186:Artificial Limbs / Q000523:psychology*; D030881:Disclosure; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged