title: An investigation of the efficacy of online expressive writing for trauma-related psychological distress in Hispanic individuals.
abstract: This study compared the efficacy of 2 online expressive writing protocols for a traumatic/stressful life event in a Hispanic student sample. Participants who had reported a traumatic event were randomly assigned to either the emotion-focused group or the fact-focused group. The emotion-focused group focused their written accounts on emotions and feelings as well as facts about a stressful/traumatic experience, whereas the fact-focused group focused on facts of a stressful/traumatic event. Both groups completed 3 online writing sessions scheduled for 3 consecutive days, a 1-week online follow-up assessment, and a 5-week online follow-up assessment. Both groups statistically significantly reduced trauma symptoms over time with the emotion-focused group demonstrating statistically significantly greater trauma symptom reductions than the fact-focused group at the 5-week follow-up assessment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Texas–Pan American, 1201 W. University Drive, Edinburg, TX 78539, USA. hiraim@utpa.edu
authors.forename: Michiyo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hirai
authors.forename: Susan T
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Skidmore
authors.forename: George A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Clum
authors.forename: Serkan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dolma
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D040921:Stress Disorders, Traumatic / Q000628:therapy*; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000628:therapy*; D013813:Therapy, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014956:Writing