Designing an Internet Intervention for Emerging Adults Who Experience Troubled Relationships

Using REDCap to Facilitate Web-Based Therapeutic Intervention Research

BACKGROUND

Limited guidelines to assist nurse researchers who use web-based interventions are available. Nurses must develop the supporting technology enabling participants to complete study activities and collected data while maintaining data security and participant confidentiality.

OBJECTIVES

The aim of the study was to describe how the authors used advanced Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap) functionality to support the data management infrastructure of an interactive, web-based therapeutic intervention.

METHODS

The data management infrastructure for the WISER (Writing to Improve Self-in-Relationships) intervention pilot study consisted of two components: a website for presentation of the intervention and participant account management and a REDCap project for data capture and storage. The REDCap application programming interface connected these two components using HTML links and data exchanges.

RESULTS

We completed an initial pilot study of WISER with 14 participants using the REDCap-based infrastructure. Minimal technical difficulties were encountered.

DISCUSSION

REDCap is cost-effective, is readily available, and, through its advanced functionality, is able to facilitate confidential, secure interactions with participants, robust data management, and seamless participant progression in web-based intervention research.

Emerging Adult Women's Views-of-Self in Intimate Partner Relationships That Are Troubled

The purpose of this study is to describe how emerging adult (EA) women describe their views-of-self in troubled relationships. Fourteen EA women (ages 18-25 years) wrote four stories about their troubled relationships during a guided-writing intervention. Qualitative descriptive methods and content analysis were used to identify common views-of-self. Four views-of-self in troubled relationships and contrasting views-of-self emerged: (i) silent self-vocal self, (ii) sacrificing self-prioritized self, (iii) caretaking self-boundary-setting self, and (iv) insecure self-secure self. Mental health nurses and other clinicians can use these views-of-self pairs to guide their discussions with EA young women who are involved in troubled relationships.

A feasibility test of an online intervention to prevention dating violence in emerging adults

Dating violence in emerging adults is a significant problem and few prevention programs based on the developmental needs of this age group have been developed. Our research team developed an online dating violence prevention program called WISER (Writing to Improve Self-in-Relationships) for emerging adults. The program is based on narrative therapy principles and uses structured writing techniques. A single group pre-post feasibility test of WISER was conducted with 14 college women. WISER was demonstrated to be feasible and acceptable and to show promise as an effective program to decrease dating violence in this population.