(PS10-D79) An Individualized Feedback Intervention About Perfectionism and Daily Stress, Coping, and Mood Processes: Evidence from a Waitlist Controlled Trial

Over the past three decades, perfectionism has emerged as a transdiagnostic cognitive-personality vulnerability factor that plays a role in the etiology, maintenance, and course of depression and anxiety. To improve evidence-based practice, it is critical to address person-centered explanatory questions (e.g., “Why does this individual with higher SC perfectionism keep having difficulties?”) that are essential to help achieve two overarching therapy goals of reducing patients’ distress and bolstering resilience. In cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT), therapists draw connections among specific thoughts, emotions, and behaviors across numerous situations of daily life in order to understand: (a) the triggers that are in play when the person’s mood worsens, (b) the maintaining mechanisms that perpetuate their mood problems, and (c) the triggering and maintaining mechanisms that bolster positive mood. The present study tested a single-session individualized feedback intervention about perfectionism and daily stress, coping, and negative and positive affect processes, which was based on previous work testing the Perfectionism Coping Action Patterns Model (e.g., Dunkley et al., 2017; Dunkley, Ma, et al., 2014; Dunkley et al., 2003). Ninety-three university students with higher self-critical perfectionism completed daily measures of stress, coping, and affect for seven days. A randomized control design was used to compare two experimental conditions in the context of a 4-week longitudinal study with three time points.  The two conditions were: (a) a waitlist control condition (feedback intervention provided after all study assessments have been completed), and (b) a feedback condition (feedback intervention provided at Time 2 approximately two weeks after baseline questionnaires have been completed). The feedback intervention was delivered one-on-one in-person by undergraduate or graduate student trainees. The individualized functional analyses identified coping action patterns that accounted for daily changes in negative and positive affect; differentiated daily maintenance tendencies, strengths, and common triggers; and identified best targets for improving mood. Acceptability and usability ratings indicated that participants agreed to strongly agreed that the individualized feedback was comprehensive, coherent, and functional. Linear mixed modeling results showed that, compared to the control condition, participants in the feedback condition reported greater increases in empowerment (d = 1.09), coping self-efficacy (d = 0.45), and problem-focused coping (d = 0.44), as well as decreases in general depressive symptoms (d = -0.42), anhedonic depression (d = -0.48), and anxious arousal (d = -0.43). These findings demonstrate the conceptual and clinical utility and effectiveness of the individualized feedback intervention, which might help people self-regulate their emotions and allow for more effective tailoring of therapeutic interventions.