Testing the Feasibility of an Online Guided-writing Intervention Designed for Informal Caregivers of People With Parkinson's Disease

When informal caregivers of people with Parkinson's disease treat themselves harshly, they can experience psychological distress. To help them show themselves the same kindness and understanding that they would show another person in the same situation, we developed an online guided-writing intervention. This involved submitting four writing exercises where they first described a difficult situation, then wrote about how a compassionate other would respond to them during that challenge. The goal of this feasibility study was to learn if caregivers could complete the full intervention alongside providing care. We also interviewed some of those caregivers who completed the full intervention about their experiences of writing and submitting exercises.