Best possible selves in times of crisis: randomized controlled trial of best possible self-interventions during the COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 pandemic has tremendous impact on public mental health and on psychological resources such as optimism. In this context, positive psychological interventions like the best possible self (BPS) intervention may be useful tools for resource activation. Therefore, a randomized controlled trial, conducted between January and December 2021, compared BPS (n = 87), C-BPS (n = 85), and daily activity writing groups (DA; n = 82) on psychological outcomes. Each group completed a writing task over four consecutive weeks. Data were analysed using repeated measures ANCOVA, controlling for age, gender, educational attainment, relationship status, current work status, dyslexia (perceived or diagnosed), and perceived social support. The BPS led to short-term increases in positive affect and mood, and decreases in negative affect. However, this effect was limited to the first week, but the trajectories suggest temporal trends that warrant further investigation. In addition, the approach holds promise for specific groups (e.g. people with depression).

KEYWORDS:

• Best possible self
• PANAS
• COVID-19
• randomized controlled trial
• depression
• optimism
• life satisfaction
• longitudinal study
• general population

Acknowledgments

This research did not receive any specific funding from any public, commercial, or nonprofit source. We thank Svea Böge and Nathalie Graw for their support in preparing the data curation and formal analysis. The study received approval from the Ethics Committee of the University Medicine Greifswald (BB078/19), and complies with the American Psychological Association’s Ethical Principles in the Conduct of Research with Human Participants (2017).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplemental data

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2023.2297213.

Authors’ contributions

Conceptualization, ST, LM, and SB; Methodology, ST, LM, SiS, and SB; Software, ST; Validation, ST, LM, SiS, and SB; Formal Analysis, ST, and SB; Investigation, ST, LM, and SB; Resources, ST, LM, SiS, and SB; Data Curation, ST, and SB; Writing – Original Draft, LM, and ST; Writing – Review & Editing, SiS, and SB; Visualization, ST; Supervision, ST, SiS, and SB; Project Administration, ST, LM, and SB. All authors have read and approved the final version of the manuscript.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to privacy or ethical restrictions.