Development and initial testing of an online security prime writing intervention during COVID-19

During the COVID-19 pandemic, we tested the efficacy of a one-week online security prime (SP) writing intervention in reducing distress among 254 adults (60+ years and/or having an underlying health condition). The efficacy of writing interventions can depend on several factors. Attachment orientations, characterized by dimensions of anxiety and avoidance, reflect individuals' tendencies in how they seek proximity to and rely on others for support, and influence how people experience and regulate their emotions.

Participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: Security Priming (SP), where people wrote about what made them feel safe and secure, Self-regulation (SR), where people wrote about their pandemic-related stressors, coping, and lifestyle changes, or a Control group (C); they also completed pre- and post-intervention measures.

Our hypothesis that the SP condition would outperform the SR and C conditions in reducing distress, was not supported. In the SP condition, attachment avoidance demonstrated a negative relationship with distress at follow-up, unlike the other two conditions. Further, those in the SP condition demonstrated a negative relationship between attachment anxiety and distress at follow-up.

The SP writing intervention was impactful for those insecurely attached and may have utility in other loss-related contexts beyond COVID-19.