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出现抑郁症状的比例不成比例。许多照护者通过参加心理社会干预来寻求帮助。结合Lewinsohn抑郁理论的行为干预对家庭照顾者似乎有效。Lewinsohn的理论假设，参与更愉快的活动会减少一个人的负面影响体验。然而，护理人员可能会发现干预措施过于耗时，因此不参加或退出。这个项目提出了一种创新的干预方法，它既省时又基于已经被证明能有效减少负面情绪的理论。使用时间序列分析，将提供详细的反馈和建议，以了解参与愉快活动与积极和消极情绪之间关系的个人模式。在两周的时间里，60名护理人员将完成评估他们参与愉快活动以及积极和消极影响体验的测试。这些措施将每天完成四次。将分析数据的时间关系。数据收集后，将随机分配一半的参与者接受有关感兴趣变量之间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一个月的随访，以确定那些接受详细反馈的人是否会经历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.