A randomized controlled trial testing the benefits of prosocial writing in young adult survivors of adolescent and young adult cancer.
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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 (N = 201, Mage = 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 (p = .038, f² = 0.03) and ratings of social support (p = .043, f² = 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 (ps ≥ .051, f²s ≤ 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).