7 Clinical Trials for Various Conditions
Previous studies found that a large number of prisoners experienced unjust treatment from others, which can lead to deep inner pain or anger, prior to criminal perpetration. Such unresolved anger can deepen and linger, be turning to resentment (excessive anger) or rage (very intense, potentially violent anger), compromising one's psychological health and behavior and even contributing to their choice of crime. However, Forgiveness Therapy, as an empirically-verified treatment, can help reduce and even eliminate the excessive anger. Its positive effects have been scientifically supported by numerous studies within diverse populations. Therefore, in the prison context, similarly, the investigator hypothesizes that Forgiveness Therapy will lower rates of anger, depression, and anxiety and raise the levels of forgiveness, empathy, hope, and self-esteem for the experimental (Forgiveness Therapy) group as compared to the alternative treatment control group. This is based upon numerous studies that demonstrate the efficacy of Forgiveness Therapy with comparisons to other treatment methods. Further, the study team expects behavioral change by the men within the correctional institution, as measured by officers' observations as well as the number of misconducts in conduct reports on each participant and the time spent in restrictive housing. This study is the second part of a two-tiered research project to propose a novel approach--Forgiveness Therapy--to corrections and aims to demonstrate the effectiveness of Forgiveness Therapy in reducing resentment and other negative psychological symptoms such as excessive anger, anxiety, and depression for the prison inmates. A random sample of 24 participants, who have not participated in forgiveness workshops or forgiveness therapy, were taken from the Study 1(the investigator's previous research from the maximum-security prison of Columbia Correctional Institution "Examining Prison Inmates' Attitudes and Internal Emotional States"). These participants became 12 matched pairs (matched by the type of abuse, the severity of the abuse, and age at which the injustice occurred) with each member of the matched pair randomly assigned to the experimental group or control group. Each inmate participated voluntarily in this study. Since this study is a continuation of Study 1, the investigator named this study as Study 2.
The purpose of this study is to evaluate a forgiveness-based writing intervention in an open trial with 20 Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF) veterans who have recently experienced combat-related trauma to: 1. Determine the feasibility of delivering the intervention. 2. Evaluate the acceptability of the intervention. 3. Collect preliminary outcome data on PTSD symptoms, depression, anxiety, anger, and forgiveness.
The goal of this study is to estimate the direct, causal impact of medical debt on health care utilization, mental health, and wellbeing of patients. The investigators will conduct a survey to measure the impact of the debt forgiveness on health care use, mental health, and wellbeing. The survey will be administered to approximately 17,000 subjects of a recent medical financial intervention. In that prior intervention, a non-profit charity, RIP Medical Debt, purchased and abolished medical debt for a randomly selected about 6,000 (out of the 17,000) individuals. In this current protocol, the investigators will administer the survey, and will compare surveyed outcomes of subjects who received and did not receive the intervention.
This project examines the development of psychological well-being in children and teachers through a 12- week forgiveness education program conducted in three conflict zones of the world, Northern Ireland, Israel/Palestine, and Taiwan. A 12-week forgiveness education program will be investigated in elementary schools in three conflict zones of the world, Northern Ireland, Israel/Palestine, and Taiwan. The responsibilities of the sub-team in each of the three research sites will be: * a. recruiting schools, assisting the teacher training before the forgiveness education program starts * b. shepherding teachers, doing the fidelity checks, administering the instruments and collecting data during the forgiveness education program. Once a school gives permission to be part of this study, the forgiveness curriculum will be implemented as a 12-week standard curriculum for the grade 5 (US equivalency) students. Teachers of the grade 5 classes will be trained to administer the program. Teachers, students and their parents must give the consent to take part in the measures of the study.
This study has an experimental design and will examine the difference in pre-test and post-test data on the Self-Forgiveness Dual Process Scale (SFDPS) (Griffin, Worthington, Davis, Hook, \& Maguen, 2018) and the Substance Abuse Self-Stigma Scale (SASSS) (Luoma et al., 2013). Data will be collected from two groups of participants receiving counseling at the short-term rehabilitation facility located at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's (UPMC). Individuals who agree to participate in the study will be randomly assigned to either the experimental group (EG) or the control group (CG). Data collected will include pre-test SFDPS and SASSS scores for the EG and the CG (collected within 24-hours of admission), and post-test SFDPS and SASSS scores for the EG and CG (collected after 14 days). ANCOVA will be used to analyze the pre-test and post-test data recorded from participants' scores.
Employers are increasingly looking for opportunities to motivate sedentary employees to become more physically active. Workplace walking programs have had mixed success and typically show most improvement among participants that are already fairly active at a baseline. The goal of this study is to determine whether a financial incentive program can motivate sedentary employees to increase the number of steps they walk per day to meet a minimum threshold. The primary outcome measure is the proportion of days a minimum activity of 7000 steps or more is achieved. Outcomes will be assessed each week for 3 months using incentives followed by 3 months of follow-up without incentives. Secondary outcomes will include the average steps walked per day.
This study is the first part of a two-tiered research project to propose a novel approach-forgiveness therapy-to corrections. This study is a non-intervention study and aims to demonstrate the need to introduce the concepts of forgiveness and Forgiveness Therapy within prisons. This study is focused on the extent to which men in a maximum-security prison experienced considerable injustice against them (such as in a family context as he was growing up) prior to committing serious crimes. Variables associated with this prior unjust treatment included the level of forgiveness and variables of current psychological well-being. Since this study provided the rationale and participants' matching data (eligibility) for the subsequent interventional study (Study 2, "Proposing Forgiveness Therapy in Prison") in which psychological treatments applied to the inmates, investigator refer to this study as Study 1.