Does timeframe adjustment of the Life Orientation Test-Revised assess optimism as a state?

ABSTRACT

Optimism is prospectively associated with superior health outcomes in cardiac patients, making it an attractive target for well-being interventions in this population. However, optimism measured by the Life Orientation Test-Revised (LOT-R) has largely been considered a static, dispositional construct. Among 125 patients with a recent acute coronary syndrome who received a positive psychology intervention, we assessed the properties of a modified LOT-R that changed the timeframe of items from general dispositional statements to queries about ‘right now.’ We aimed to learn whether this modified LOT-R was more dynamic than the original LOT-R via administration of both instruments at three timepoints over the 16-week study period. Contrary to our hypothesis, this modified LOT-R showed no greater change in mean score or intra-individual variance than the original LOT-R over 16 weeks. This suggests that simply changing the timeframe of the LOT-R may not facilitate assessment of more state-like optimism in medical patients.

KEYWORDS:

• Optimism
• positive psychology
• cardiovascular disease

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

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Additional information

Funding

This research project was supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute through grant [R01HL113272 (to Dr. Huffman)]. Time for analysis and article preparation was also funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute through grant [K23HL123607 (to Dr. Celano)] and [K23HL135277 (to Dr. Millstein)]. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. The sponsor had no role in the design, analysis, interpretation, or publication of the study. The authors have no other relevant conflicts of interest to report.