Moskowitz, J. T et al. | Randomized controlled trial of a facilitated online positive emotion regulation intervention for dementia caregivers | Health Psychology, 2019 | Vol. 38 (5): p391 – 402
Caring for family members with dementia causes significant emotional and physical stress that increases caregivers’ risk of depression, anxiety and death. A new method of coping with that stress by teaching people how to focus on positive emotions reduced their anxiety and depression after six weeks. It also resulted in better self-reported physical health and positive attitudes toward caregiving.
The intervention included teaching participants eight skills that increase positive emotions. The skills taught were:
1. Recognizing a positive event each day
2. Savoring that positive event and logging it in a journal or telling someone about it
3. Starting a daily gratitude journal
4. Listing a personal strength each day and noting how you used this strength recently
5. Setting an attainable goal each day and noting your progress
6. Reporting a relatively minor stressor each day, then listing ways in which the event can be positively reappraised or reframed
7. Understanding small acts of kindness can have a big impact on positive emotion and practicing a small act of kindness each day
8. Practicing mindfulness through paying attention to daily experiences and with a daily 10-minute breathing exercise, concentrating on the breath
Full story at ScienceDaily
Full abstract at Health Psychology