You are invited to participate in a research study looking at whether optimism can be increased, and how this affects a person’s overall sense of well-being. The study is being carried out by myself, Sarah Bell-Booth. I am a student working towards a Doctor of Clinical Psychology in the School of Psychology at Massey University, and I am supervised by Professor Janet Leathem.
We are looking for volunteers aged between 65 and 85 years, who are not currently receiving psychotherapy. Volunteers will be randomly separated into two groups, each with different tasks to complete. The results of each group will be compared at the end. Here is some further information about the study, what you are asked to do, and your rights, should you choose to participate.
Background information:
A person’s level of optimism and pessimism is indicated by the way he/she explains events in their lives. High levels of pessimism are related to a low sense of well-being. Therefore it is important to try and increase people’s optimistic views of events. A self-help intervention was developed in America and has been shown to be effective for increasing optimistic thinking and well- being in undergraduate students. This intervention has not been used with older adults, and therefore we are interested to see if it will be effective.
What you are asked to do:
A flowchart of instructions is presented on the following page. Your task is to think about significant good and bad events that occur in your life over the
course of four weeks. As these events occur, we then want you to complete
Optimism Intervention Forms about the causes for the events that you identify.
You must complete four forms each week, for two good events and two bad
events of that week. Each form should take approximately 5-10 minutes each. You will also be asked to complete questionnaires regarding your levels of optimism, well-being, and coping strategies at three different times (so we can measure change), including:
1) before the task (Pre-Treatment Assessment)
2) immediately after the task i.e., after 4 weeks (Post-Treatment
Assessment), and
3) one month after the task has been completed (Follow-up Assessment –
these questionnaires will be sent to you).
Each assessment will take approximately 30 minutes to complete. Once you have completed all the forms in this folder, please return the whole folder (excluding the information sheet) using the large self-addressed freepost envelope provided.
Instructions:
2) PRE-TREATMENT ASSESSMENT (pg. 5-15) - Complete the three questionnaires provided
1. Older Adult Attributional Style Questionnaire (measures your level of optimism) 2. Affectometer 2 (measures your well-being)
3. Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (measures your coping strategies)
3) TREATMENT – OPTIMISM INTERVENTION (pg. 17 - 56) Duration: Four weeks - Each week, complete 4x Optimism Intervention Forms.
(This includes: 2x forms about good events and 2x forms about bad events that occur during the week) = By the end of four weeks, you should have a total of 16 forms.
4) POST-TREATMENT ASSESSMENT (pg. 57-67) After 4 weeks - Complete the same three questionnaires provided
1. Older Adult Attributional Style Questionnaire
2. Affectometer 2
3. Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire
6) FOLLOW-UP ASSESSMENT 1 month later
You will be sent questionnaires to complete and RETURN using the envelope provided 1. Affectometer 2
2. Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire
3. General Feedback
1) Before participating:
- Read the Information Sheet (pg. 1-4)
- Sign and RETURN the Participant Consent Form/Demographics form in the self-addressed freepost envelope (attached to the cover of this folder)
5) Finished the pre-treatment, treatment, and post-treatment?
- Remove and keep the Information Sheet (in case you need for future reference)
- RETURN the whole folder using the large self-addressed freepost envelope provided ( You will be rung by the researcher to go over an example of an Optimism Intervention Form )
Your rights:
You are under no obligation to accept this invitation. If you do not wish to participate, we thank you for your time and ask that you please return the folder using the self-addressed freepost envelope provided. If you decide to participate, you have the right to:
• decline to answer any particular question;
• withdraw from the study at any time before publication;
• ask any questions about the study at any time during participation;
• provide information on the understanding that your name will not be
used unless you give permission to the researcher;
• be given access to a summary of the project findings when it is
concluded. If you would like to receive this summary, please circle ‘yes’
on the Participant Consent Form.
Please indicate your willingness to participate by signing the Participant
Consent Form (pg. 3) and sending this form back using the self-addressed freepost envelope provided.
Support:
Should this study raise any matters of personal concern, do not hesitate to contact either myself or my supervisor.
Contact details:
If you have any questions about the study please contact myself, Sarah Bell- Booth, on 0800 555 022 (please leave a detailed message) or email
[email protected]. Otherwise, contact my supervisor Professor Janet Leathem at the School of Psychology, Massey University, Wellington campus on
4140800 ext 62035.
This study has been reviewed and approved by the Massey University Human
Ethics Committee: Southern A, Application 08/03. If you have any concerns
about the conduct of this research, please contact Professor John O’Neill, Chair, Massey University Human Ethics Committee: Southern A, telephone 06 350 5799 x 8771, email [email protected].
Thank you very much. Your participation is much appreciated. Kind regards,
Sarah Bell-Booth
Doctor of Clinical Psychology student Massey University