A randomized controlled trial testing the benefits of prosocial writing in young adult survivors of adolescent and young adult cancer.

BACKGROUND

Research on psychosocial interventions for survivors of adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer is lacking, despite many experiencing adverse sequelae, including disruptions in psychosocial well-being.

METHOD

The AYA Writing Project, an online randomized controlled trial, tested the efficacy of two prosocial writing interventions-peer helping and expressive writing + peer helping-against a cancer-specific fact-writing control. Young adults (18-39 years old) diagnosed with cancer at age 15-39 completed one 20-min writing activity each week for 4 weeks. Assessments were conducted at preintervention, postintervention, and 1-month postintervention. Analyses compared each intervention to the control condition using linear mixed models. The primary outcome was a change in well-being (i.e., total, hedonic, eudaimonic social, and eudaimonic psychological well-being) from preintervention to postintervention. Secondary outcomes included social support and depressive symptoms.

RESULTS

Participants ( = 201, = 32.33 years, 76% female) were, on average, 5.07 years since diagnosis. Those assigned to the peer helping condition had significantly greater increases in eudaimonic psychological well-being ( = .038² = 0.03) and ratings of social support ( = .043, ² = 0.04) from preintervention to postintervention (but not 1 month later) relative to controls. Similar nonsignificant trends were observed when comparing the expressive writing + peer helping condition to controls (s ≥ .051, ²s ≤ 0.04). For all other outcomes, no significant interaction effects emerged.

CONCLUSION

Engaging in online peer helping via prosocial writing is an effective and accessible means of enhancing eudaimonic psychological well-being and social support among young adult survivors of AYA cancer. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).