Baldwin Wallace University
Daily Emotions in Therapy (DET) Study
A study investigating changes in emotions during psychotherapy in the community. We sought to test whether 3 months of psychotherapy is associated with an increased ability to distinguish between negative emotions as well as experience positive emotions concurrently with negative emotions. The study samples from participants' experiences multiple times a day for 2 weeks to capture real-time dynamics of emotion. We are in the final stages of data collection and beginning the process of cleaning the data.
.jpg)
Self-care behaviors and the COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic brought about increases in psychological distress, including symptoms of anxiety and depression across the United States. Major health promotion outlets such as the CDC and Mayo Clinic recommended self-care behaviors - eating fruits and vegetables, physical exercise, meditation and mindfulness practice, socializing with loved ones, etc. - to help maintain well-being during the pandemic. We have been evaluating the scientific backing of these claims to ensure the self-care recommended have the highest probability of reducing distress. We have already identified support for each of the above behaviors boosting mood during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and are in the process of replicating the research during the middle of the pandemic.
Brief smartphone interventions for well-being
With more and more of the United States owning smartphones, psychologists have recognized the potential for personal devices to foster well-being. We created a brief, savoring intervention called the Daily Coping Toolkit aimed at increasing positive emotions - joy, love, amusement, affection, etc. - on a daily basis. We have gathered preliminary support for the effectiveness of the Daily Coping Toolkit and are now rigorously testing the efficacy of the intervention with a Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT).
