Cardiovascular Effects of Grieving

Recruiting now · Not applicable

Conditions studied: Grief, Cardiovascular Health, Emotion

In brief

Self-affirmation (SA) theory proposes that people are motivated to maintain a positive self-image of being worthy, stable, and capable. Self-affirmation (SA) manipulations have been shown to effectively increase self-worth as well as reduce cardiovascular reactivity while enhancing cardiovascular recovery in response to stress. While SA is discussed as a way to alleviate grief, its effect on cardiovascular reactivity (CVR) and recovery to grief recall has yet to be studied within laboratory settings. This study proposes an experimental design to examine how an in-lab manipulation promoting self-affirmation can improve patients' cardiovascular responses during and after a grief recall procedure. The investigators hypothesized that grief severity (a continuous variable) interacts with condition (a categorical variable with two levels, i.e., SA intervention vs. control) to predict CV reactivity and recovery as outcomes. Primary Objective 1: To investigate effects of self-affirmation intervention on cardiovascular responses among grieving participants during and after grief recall. Secondary Objective 1: To investigate the relationship of grief severity with psychological stress.

Key facts

Study ID: NCT07356635
Run by: University of South Florida
People needed: 140
Starts: 2025-10-16
Expected to finish: 2027-03-01
Last updated by the study team: 2026-01-21

Who can join

Age: 18 and older. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: accepted.

You may qualify if…

Individuals aged 18 and older who have experienced the death of family member and/or friend within the last 2 to 18 months.
Participants must also be fluent in English as all procedures will be conducted in English.

You may not qualify if…

Individuals with a history of cardiovascular disease or disorders, those who report being pregnant, or are taking medication which may alter/affect cardiovascular and/or cognitive processes.

Where it is running

University of South Florida, Psychology and Communication Sciences and Disorders Lab Building — Tampa, Florida, United States (enrolling)

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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