Pleasant Events and Moods: A Time-Series Analysis

描述(由申请人提供)：与非照顾者相比，痴呆症患者的家庭照顾者经历抑郁症状的比例不成比例。许多照顾者通过参加心理社会干预来寻求帮助。行为干预结合了莱温松的抑郁理论，似乎对家庭照顾者有效。莱温松的理论假定，参加更多令人愉快的活动会减少一个人感受到的负面影响。然而，照顾者可能会发现干预太耗时，因此不会注册或退学。这个项目提出了一种创新的干预措施，它是基于已经被证明在减少负面情绪方面有效的理论，并且是节省时间的。利用时间序列分析，将就参与愉快活动与积极和消极情绪之间的关系中的个体模式提供详细的反馈和建议。在两周的时间里，60名照顾者将完成评估他们参与愉快活动以及体验积极和消极影响的测量。这些措施将每天完成四次。将对数据进行时间关系分析。在数据收集后，所有参与者中的一半将被随机分配以接收关于感兴趣变量之间的时间关系的即时反馈和建议。其余参与者将不会收到任何反馈。所有参与者都将接受为期一个月的跟踪调查，以确定那些收到详细反馈的人是否经历了更少的负面情绪和更多的积极情绪。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): A disproportionate number of family caregivers of dementia patients experience depressive symptoms compared to non-caregivers. Many caregivers seek help by enrolling in psychosocial interventions. Behavioral interventions incorporating Lewinsohn's theory of depression appear effective with family caregivers. Lewinsohn's theory postulates that engaging in more pleasurable activities reduces one's experience of negative effect. However, caregivers can find interventions too time-consuming and consequently do not enroll or dropout. This project proposes an innovative intervention that is time-efficient and based upon theories already shown to be effective at reducing negative emotions. Using time-series analysis, detailed feedback and advice will be provided regarding individual patterns in the relations between engaging in pleasurable activities and both positive and negative moods. Across two weeks, 60caregivers will complete measures assessing their engagement in pleasurable activities and experience of positive and negative affect. These measures will be completed four times daily. Data will be analyzed for temporal relations. After data collection, half of all participants will be randomly assigned to receive instant feedback and advice about the temporal relations between variables of interest. The remaining participants will receive no feedback. All participants will receive a one-month follow-up to determine if those receiving detailed feedback experience fewer negative emotions and more positive emotions.