Effect of a personality-based psychoeducational booklet aligned with openness-related characteristics on health-related quality of life in pulmonary rehabilitation: A randomized controlled trial

OBJECTIVES: Five-Factor Model personality traits differ in their associations with health outcomes after therapeutic interventions. In the specific context of inpatient pulmonary rehabilitation (PR), higher levels of openness to experience have been associated with greater risk of non-response in terms of health-related quality of life. This study aimed to examine the effect of psychoeducational information aligned with characteristics associated with higher levels of openness on health-related quality of life in inpatient PR. METHODS: A single-blind multicenter randomized controlled trial was conducted in the context of inpatient PR with 136 participants diagnosed with chronic respiratory disease. Participants in the intervention group received an openness-based psychoeducational booklet, while the control group received a neutral booklet. Health-related quality of life was measured at baseline and at PR completion using the St George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ), which includes a total score and three sub-dimensions (i.e., symptoms, activities, impact). Mixed ANOVA was conducted to investigate group differences in changes in health-related quality of life. RESULTS: ₚ = 0.04, p < .05). Exploratory analyses showed that this effect was not moderated by participants' level of openness. CONCLUSIONS: This study highlights that an openness-based intervention can improve a sub-dimension of health-related quality of life in inpatient PR and offers valuable insights for the conception of future personality-based interventions in PR.