Expressing Personal Recollections in English or Spanish to Alleviate Traumatic Emotions (Exprésate)

Conditions

Weekly Emotional Disclosure (WED) — BEHAVIORAL
Online writing sessions, each lasting approximately 45 minutes, once a week, conducted virtually. Participants will be instructed to write about either a major traumatic life experience or what the participant did the previous day.
Weekly Emotional Disclosure (WED) Spanish — BEHAVIORAL
Online writing sessions, each lasting approximately 45 minutes, once a week, conducted virtually. Participants will be instructed to write about either a major traumatic life experience or what the participant did the previous day in Spanish.

The purpose of this study is to test if expressive writing about traumatic events has positive changes in women living with post-traumatic stress.

Experimental: Augmented trauma-writing intervention in Spanish
Participants in this group will be required to write once weekly for 4 consecutive weeks. Participants will be instructed to write objectively about what they did the day prior and to avoid writing about their emotions or opinions in Spanish.
Experimental: Augmented trauma-writing intervention in English
Participants in this group will be asked to write about their most traumatic or upsetting experiences for a total of 4 sessions (one session a week for 4 consecutive weeks) in English.
Active Comparator: Daily-event-writing control in English
Participants in this group will be asked to conduct event writing condition in English and will be asked to write a description about what they did "yesterday from the time \[they\] got up until the time \[they\] went to bed" for 20 min continuously. They will be told to "avoid writing about \[their\] emotions or opinions" but to try to be as "accurate and objective as possible."
Active Comparator: Daily-event-writing control in Spanish
Participants in this group will be asked to conduct event writing in condition in Spanish and will be asked to write a description about what they did "yesterday from the time \[they\] got up until the time \[they\] went to bed" for 20 min continuously. They will be told to "avoid writing about \[their\] emotions or opinions" but to try to be as "accurate and objective as possible."

Change in PTSD Symptoms as Assessed by the Impact of Event Scale [ Time Frame: 6 weeks ]

Facility	City	State	ZIP	Site coordinators
University of Miami	Miami	Florida	33143	-

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