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Spinal Cord InjuriesNCT04721717

AIM's Writing for Healing: A Workshop for Individuals Living With Paralysis

An observational study of Spinal Cord Injuries and Multiple Sclerosis, run by University of Alabama at Birmingham at 1 site in United States.

Completed

Finished. The study has ended and is not enrolling. Results may be posted on the official record.

Official record
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Trial summary

The UAB Institute for Arts In Medicine (AIM) is currently implementing an expressive emotional writing pilot project for adults with paralysis caused by neurological conditions such as traumatic head or spinal cord injury. Read more about this study

Who is it for?
Ages 18 years and olderHealthy volunteers can take part
How many people
95 participants
Where
1 siteUnited States
Study dates
1 Sep 2020to 4 Apr 2025
Phase
Observational
Are there results?
None posted in the registry

Key requirements

Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.

  • Ages 18 years and older
  • All sexes
  • Healthy volunteers accepted
  • Adult, Older adult

Study population: Sex: both Race/Ethnicity: all Age: aged 18 years or above Health status: Healthy

Who may be able to join

  • Age 18 or older with paralysis living in the community
  • limb paralysis resulting from a traumatic event/accident or neurological disease (e.g., spinal cord injury, head injury, stroke, multiple sclerosis, Transverse myelitis, poliomyelitis, peripheral neuropathy, Parkinson's disease, ALS, botulism, and Guillain-Barré syndrome etc) happened after childhood
  • a non-traumatic spinal cord injury may be caused by arthritis, cancer, inflammation, infections or disk degeneration of the spine
  • caregivers of people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
  • able to communicate verbally or through writing

Who cannot join

  • known maladaptive behavioral patterns, exhibition of overt psychotic symptoms (e.g., presence of hallucinations, delusions, or thought disorders)
  • congenital (e.g., spinal bifida, cerebral palsy)

Trial locations and contacts

1 site in 1 country.

United States1 site
  • 354 School of Health Professions Building

    Birmingham, Alabama, 35294

Other trials in United States

About this study

The UAB Institute for Arts In Medicine (AIM) is currently implementing an expressive emotional writing pilot project for adults with paralysis caused by neurological conditions such as traumatic head or spinal cord injury.

Read the detailed description

Because of the inability to move certain parts of the body, persons with paralysis caused by neurological conditions such as spinal cord injury, traumatic head injury, and stroke experience grief from the loss of physical capacity, social or occupational role function, and life goals. Common complications associated with grief in these individuals include increased anxiety and depression, poor physical health, and low sense of purpose in life. Therefore, it is essential to identify community-based, self-help support that can serve as a step to facilitate healthy grieving in these individuals. Such support should aim at shifting their mindset from focusing on their loss (disability) to restoring daily function. Constructing and reconstructing the story of one's own life has been reported in several autobiographic accounts as a coping strategy to learn acceptance and how to live with various traumatic conditions (i.e., grief resolution).

Writing about emotionally traumatic or challenging experiences has been shown to have a surprisingly beneficial effect on reports of symptom reduction and health care use, as well as improvements in health status and well-being in people with chronic conditions. Expressive emotional writing programs have demonstrated the ability to improve the quality of life of individuals with chronic conditions. Although expressive writing could be a promising avenue in reducing grief and improving psychosocial and physical functioning among adults with paralysis, currently, few programs on expressive emotional writing are available for these individuals. Therefore, the UAB Institute for Arts in Medicine (AIM) will implement an innovative expressive emotional writing pilot project for adults with paralysis.

To maximize the number of adults with paralysis who can benefit from participating in this expressive emotional writing program, the investigators will partner with two additional organizations -the Is-Able Center and the Lakeshore Foundation in Birmingham, Alabama. The Is-Able Center (https://isable.org/) is a non-profit community organization which provides services including grief support that encourage, educate and empower the quality of life for individuals with disabilities. The Lakeshore Foundation (https://www.lakeshore.org/) is also a non-profit community organization that serves and advocates for people with physical disabilities.

The writing program will take place at both the Is-Able Center and Lakeshore Foundation starting in July 2020. The program will run for 10 consecutive weeks, with weekly writing activities. The grant funds will be used to reimburse mileage for adults with paralysis for participation in the writing program, hire a program coordinator, and two coaches to facilitate the writing program and facilitate discussion conducted in each of the two community organizations.

Medical subject headings
Spinal Cord Injuries, Multiple Sclerosis, Myelitis, Transverse, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

What participants receive

What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.

Study groups in NCT04721717
Study groupRoleWhat they receive
People with SCIPeople with paraplegia and quadriplegia People with multiple sclerosis People with transverse myelitis Caregivers of people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)

What is being measured

The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.

  1. The Grief and Loss Scale

    (Kalpakjian et al., 2015) is a 9-item measure of an individual's emotional reactions or grief such as anger, guilt, anxiety, sadness, and despair in the past 7 days, using a 5-point scale (1=never) to 5 (always). The scores range from 9 to 45. Higher scores reflect higher degree of grief and loss.

    Measured: 11 Weeks

  2. Emotional Distress - Depression

    Short Form 8b. It is a part of the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS). It is an 8-item measure of an individual's emotional distress (depression) in the past 7 days, using a 5-point scale (1=never) to 5 (always). The scores range from 8 to 40. Higher scores reflect higher degree of emotional distress (depression)

    Measured: 11 Weeks

  3. Perceived Stress Scale

    PSS) (Cohen et al. 1988) is a 10-item measure of frequency of an individual experiencing stress in the past month, using a 5-point scale (1=never) to (5=very often). Four positively stated items require reversed coding. The scores range from 10 to 50. Higher scores reflect higher frequency of experiencing stress.

    Measured: 11 Weeks

  4. Impact of Events Scale

    (Weiss, 2007). It is a 6-item measure of an individual's distress related to different difficulties in the past 7 days, using a 5-point scale (0=not at all) to 4 (extremely). The scores range from 0 to 24. Higher scores reflect greater distress.

    Measured: 11 Weeks

  5. Meaning and Purpose

    It is part of the NIH Toolbox Item Bank. It is a 7-item measure of an individual's meaning and purpose in life, using a 5-point scale (1=strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). The scores range from 7 to 35. Higher scores reflect greater meaning and purpose in life.

    Measured: 11 Weeks

  6. Self-Efficacy for Managing Chronic Conditions - Managing Emotions

    Short Form 4a. It is a part of the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS). It is a 4-item measure of an individual's self-efficacy for managing chronic conditions, using a 5-point scale (1=I am not at all confident) to 5 (I am very confident). The scores range from 4 to 20. Higher scores reflect greater confident in managing chronic conditions.

    Measured: 11 Weeks

  7. Sleep Disturbance

    Short Form 4a. It is a part of the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS). It is a 4-item measure of an individual's sleep problem or quality in the past 7 days, using a 5-point scale (1=not at all/very much) to 5 (very much/very poor). Two positively stated item require reversed coding. The scores range from 4 to 20. Higher scores reflect greater sleep problem.

    Measured: 11 Weeks

  8. Sleep Impact

    Short Form. It is a part of the Adult Sickle Cell Quality of Life Measurement Information System (ASCQ). It is a 5-item measure of an individual's trouble falling asleep in the past 7 days, using a 5-point scale (1=always) to 5 (never). One positively stated item require reversed coding. The scores range from 5 to 25. Higher scores reflect less trouble falling asleep.

    Measured: 11 Weeks

  9. Ability to Participate in Social Roles and Activities

    Short Form 4a. It is a part of the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS). It is a 4-item measure of an individual's trouble participating in social roles and activities, using a 5-point scale (1=always) to 5 (never). The scores range from 4 to 20. Higher scores reflect less trouble participating in social roles and activities.

    Measured: 11 Weeks

  10. Satisfaction with Social Roles and Activities

    It is a part of the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS). It is a 4-item measure of an individual's satisfaction with social roles and activities, using a 5-point scale (1=not at all) to 5 (very much). The scores range from 4 to 20. Higher scores reflect greater satisfaction with social roles and activities.

    Measured: 11 Weeks

  11. Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale

    It consists of 10 statements that respondents rated on a 5-point scale from 0 - Not true at all.

    1 - Rarely true.2 - Sometimes true.3 - Often true.4 - True nearly all the time. Answers were scored from 0 to 4 to create a total score that ranged from 0 to 100, with higher numbers denoting greater resilience.

    Measured: 11 weeks

Secondary outcomes (4)
  1. Cortisol level

    Hair cortisol level

    Measured: 11 weeks

  2. Quality of Life During Serious Illness - Family Carers

    It consists of 16 statements that family carers rated on a 11-point scale from 0 - 10 that best represents how they feel. Some items require reversed coding. Higher scores denote better quality of life.

    Measured: 11 weeks

  3. Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS)

    It has 14 items rated on a 4-point scale with higher scores indicating more anxiety and depressive symptoms. Some items require reverse scoring.

    Measured: 11 weeks

  4. Caregiver Burden Inventory

    It has 24 items rated on a 5-point scale with higher scores indicating higher frequent of experiencing caregiver burden.

    Measured: 11 weeks

Timeline

From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.

  1. First posted25 Jan 2021
  2. Study start1 Sep 2020
  3. Primary completion4 Apr 2025
  4. Study completion4 Apr 2025

Resources

More details

For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.

Study design
Study type
Observational
Observational model
Cohort
Time perspective
Prospective
Enrolment
95 participants (actual)
IDs, dates and publications
ClinicalTrials.gov ID
NCT04721717
Sponsor's protocol ID
IRB- 300005546
Other IDs
2027598; and 967751
Status last verified
Sep 2026
First submitted
3 Dec 2020
Last updated
25 Sep 2026
Results posted
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No

Publications

  • Xie SM, McKenna M, Veach K, Williams S, Jones MG, Vander Kamp E, Green S, Edwards L, Kirklin K, Jones BA, Yuen HK. Assessing the Psychosocial Impact of Expressive Writing on Adults With Spinal Cord Injury: Qualitative Study. JMIR Form Res. 2025 Jun 30;9:e71162. doi: 10.2196/71162.

    PubMed 40587781
  • Yuen HK, Kamp EV, Green S, Edwards L, Kirklin K, Hanebrink S, Klebine P, Han A, Chen Y. Effects of a coach-guided video-conferencing expressive writing program on facilitating grief resolution in adults with SCI. J Spinal Cord Med. 2024 Nov;47(6):1016-1025. doi: 10.1080/10790268.2023.2253390. Epub 2023 Sep 8.

    PubMed 37682297

Questions about this trial

What is this clinical trial studying?

An observational study of Spinal Cord Injuries and Multiple Sclerosis, run by University of Alabama at Birmingham at 1 site in United States.

The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.

Who may be eligible to take part?

The sponsor lists 5 inclusion and 2 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.

Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?

The record says: finished, as of the sponsor's last update on 25 Sep 2026. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.

Where is the study taking place?

The record lists 1 site in United States. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.

What are the possible benefits and risks?

They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.

Are results available for this study?

The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.

How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?

The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.

What does the primary outcome measure?

The Grief and Loss Scale (time frame: 11 Weeks). The study lists 11 primary outcomes in all. It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.

Where can I read the original study information?

On the ClinicalTrials.gov record for NCT04721717, which also lists 2 linked publications.

Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?

No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.

How often is this information updated?

AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 25 Sep 2026.

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