Better Together: Long-term Behaviors and Perspectives after a Practitioner-Family Writing Intervention in Clinical Practice.

backgroundAn expressive writing intervention, the Three-minute Mental Makeover (3MMM), was previously associated with reduced stress for practitioners, patients, and families. The goal of this follow-up study was to evaluate long-term use of writing and perspectives after participation in the 3MMM.

methodsThe original study involved patients and families in the neonatal and pediatric Intensive Care Units, inpatient units, and outpatient clinics of a children's hospital. Health-care practitioners led the intervention, writing concurrently with patients and families using the 3MMM intervention. Follow-up contact by phone was attempted for all original patient/family participants 12 to 18 months after completing the exercise. Practitioners were contacted via email 24 months after the original study. Participants were surveyed about the 3MMM and continued use of writing to cope with stressful situations. Original and follow-up survey responses were compared using the Mann-Whitney test.

resultsOf the 96 original patient/family members, 61 individuals were reached, remembered the 3MMM, and agreed to participate in the follow-up study. Among the 61 participants, 52 (85%) agreed that the 3MMM had been helpful. Thirty-six (59%) reported using writing to help cope with stress at follow-up, compared to only 23 (38%) at baseline (P = 0.005). The majority of clinicians (87%) also continued to use the 3MMM in clinical practice following the original 3MMM study period and ranked it as both feasible (75%) and worth the time investment (75%).

conclusionThe 3MMM demonstrated long-term perceived benefits and behavior changes. Findings provide preliminary support for using the 3MMM in routine clinical practice.