Hanover College Optimism and Physical Illness Can positive thoughts really create a healthy life Optimism Dispositional Optimism The expectation of positive outcomes Scheier and Carver 1982 ID: 355218
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Slide1
Grace Stephenson and Victoria LeedyHanover College
Optimism
and
Physical IllnessSlide2
Can positive thoughts really create a healthy life?Slide3
Optimism
Dispositional Optimism
The expectation of positive outcomes (
Scheier
and Carver, 1982)Slide4
Correlational researchPositive association between optimism and reduced cardiovascular illness
Boehm and
Kubzansky
(2012)
Dispositional optimism is associated with a faster rate of recovery from coronary artery bypass surgery
Scheier
et al. (1989)Slide5
Optimism and cardiovascular health
Optimism measured at one point in time is related to CVD and CVD-related mortality years later even after controlling for CVD risk factors and depression.
Giltay
et al. (2004)
Giltay
et al. (2006)
Tindle
et al. (2009)Slide6
A manipulation of optimism
The Best Possible Self: a manipulation of optimism through writing exercises
King (2001)
An observed sustained increase in optimism from the BPS intervention
Meevissen
et al. (2011)Slide7
A Possible mediatorHow does optimism provide protection against illness?
Elevates positive affect
King & Burton (2009)Slide8
hypotheses
1. Participants in BPS condition will show a significant increase in optimism and a decrease in illness. This decrease in illness will be greater than the decrease experienced by participants in the CE condition.
2. Participants in the CE condition will show a significant decrease in illness.
3. Participants in the Control Condition will experience neither an increase in optimism or a decrease in illness.Slide9
participants
Total: 31
Gender
Male- 19%
Female- 81%
Ethnicity
Caucasian- 77%
African-American- 6%
African – 10%
Unknown – 6%
Per Condition:
BPS- 52%
Challenge- 23%
Control- 25%
Age
18-23 years oldSlide10
Materials
Revised Life Orientation Test (LOT-R)
to measure dispositional optimism
Scheier
, Carver, & Bridges, 1994
Examples:
“I rarely count on good things happening to me”
“It’s important for me to keep busy”
“Overall, I expect more good things to happen to me than bad”
1-4
Likert
scaleSlide11
materials
PILL Scale
to measure self-reported illness
Pennebaker, 1982; Pennebaker & Beall,
1986
Examples:
Running nose
Indigestion
Insomnia or difficulty sleeping
1-4
Likert
scaleSlide12
procedure
Communicated through email
Participants randomly assigned to one of three conditions:
BPS, Challenging Event, Control
Subjects completed baseline questionnaires:
Optimism ScaleSlide13
Procedure, cont.
Participants wrote every day for 4 consecutive days
Every week thereafter for 3 weeks, participants completed optimism and illness scalesSlide14
Procedure, cont.
BPS Writing Prompt
Think about your life in the future. Imagine that everything has gone as well as it possibly could. You have worked hard and succeeded at accomplishing all of your life goals. Think of this as the realization of all of your life dreams. Now, write about what you imagined.
King, 2001Slide15
Procedure cont.
Challenging Event Writing Prompt
Looking back over your entire life, please identify and describe what you now consider to be the greatest single challenge you have faced in your life. What is or was the challenge or problem? How did the challenge or problem develop? How did you address or deal with this challenge or problem? What is the significance of this challenge or problem in your own life story?
(McAdams, 2008)Slide16
Procedure cont.Control Writing Prompt
Write about what you did today. Go into as much detail about your activities as possible. Do not focus on your emotional experience, but rather the sequence of events. As you write, do not worry about punctuation and grammar.
King, 2001Slide17
Results: optimismSlide18
Results: illnessSlide19
Participants in BPS condition will show a significant increase in optimism and a decrease in illness.
DiscussionSlide20
Participants in the CE condition will show a significant decrease in illness.
DiscussionSlide21
Participants in the Control Condition will experience neither an increase in optimism nor a decrease in illness.
DiscussionSlide22
Results: optimism and illness across timeSlide23
limitationsLack of participants
Unequal participants among conditions
Lack of controlled environment
Deviation from scheduleSlide24
Schedule deviationSlide25
For Additional Research
Compare hand written and typed responses
Only conducted in controlled environment
Different age groups
People who have recovered from life-threatening illnessSlide26
Questions?Slide27
Results: optimism and illness across conditionSlide28
Introduction, cont.
Self-efficacy: belief in one’s capabilities to organize and execute the course of action required to produce given attainments
Shift from biomedical model to more
biopsychosocial
model over previous years
Many impairments today can be eliminated by the individual because they are choicesSlide29
Results: self-efficacySlide30
Drop out rateBPS: 24%
Challenge: 22%
Control: 33%Slide31
Expected Results