Effects of Expressive Writing on Well-being: A Meta-analysis

Abstract

Expressive writing was developed based on the idea that individuals’ expressing their emotions and thoughts about the experiences that affect them in writing can be therapeutic, and its effectiveness has been examined in many studies. In the literature, many studies show that expressive writing is effective on physical and psychological health, yet some others show that it is not effective. In the current study, a meta-analysis is conducted to evaluate the results in the literature together to reach more consistent and exploratory results regarding the effect of expressive writing. The aim of this study is to examine the effect of expressive writing on well-being through a meta-analysis based on experimental research. For this purpose, 11 research studies accessed through online database searches were included in the study. There were 764 participants in the studies chosen. As a result of the meta-analysis, the estimated common effect size was calculated as 0.229 Hedges’ g value. This result indicates that expressive writing has a small positive effect on well-being. The publication bias analyses revealed that there was no publication bias regarding the effect’s validity.

Keywords

• expressive writing
• written disclosure
• well-being
• meta-analysis

Dışavurumcu Yazma Uygulamasının İyi Oluş Üzerine Etkisi: Meta-analiz Çalışması

Abstract

Dışavurumcu yazma uygulaması bireylerin kendilerini etkileyen yaşantılara ilişkin duygu ve düşüncelerini yazılı olarak ifade etmelerinin iyileştirici olabileceği fikrinden hareketle geliştirilmiş ve etkililiği pek çok çalışmada incelenmiştir. Literatürde dışavurumcu yazmanın fiziksel ve psikolojik sağlık üzerinde etkili olduğunu gösteren çalışmalar olduğu gibi etkili olmadığını ortaya koyan çalışmalar da yer almaktadır. Mevcut çalışmada dışavurumcu yazma uygulamasının etkisine ilişkin daha tutarlı ve keşfedici sonuçlara ulaşmak amacıyla literatürdeki sonuçların birlikte değerlendirildiği meta-analiz çalışmasına başvurulmuştur. Bu çalışmanın amacı deneysel çalışmalara dayanan bir meta-analiz ile dışavurumcu yazma uygulamasının bireylerin iyi oluşu üzerindeki etkisini incelemektir. Bu amaçla gerçekleştirilen çevrimiçi veri tabanı taramaları sonucunda ulaşılan 11 araştırma çalışmaya dahil edilmiştir. Ulaşılan 11 çalışmada 764 katılımcı yer almaktadır. Bu araştırma sonuçlarının birlikte analiz edilmesi ile gerçekleştirilen meta-analiz sonucunda tahmin edilen ortak etki büyüklüğü Hedges’ g = 0.229 olarak bulunmuştur. Bu sonuç dışavurumcu yazmanın iyi oluş üzerinde pozitif yönlü küçük bir etkiye sahip olduğunu ifade etmektedir. Etki büyüklüğünün geçerliğini incelemek amacıyla gerçekleştirilen yayın yanlılığı analizlerinde herhangi bir yayın yanlılığının olmadığı bulunmuştur.

Keywords

• dışvurumcu yazma
• yazılı dışavurum
• iyi oluş
• meta-analiz

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