Happiness
Conditions
Keywords
Gratitude Intervention, positive emotion, friendships, positive psychology, life satisfaction
Brief summary
This randomized controlled study will examine the effects of different interpersonal gratitude journals compared to a neutral control journal on psycho social outcomes.
Detailed description
This randomized controlled study will examine the effect of a) a reflective interpersonal gratitude journal, and b) an reflective and behavioral interpersonal gratitude journal, versus (c) an active control journal, on life satisfaction and other secondary outcomes. Explanatory mechanisms will be tested utilizing the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. Participants will be randomly assigned to one of these three conditions with three week, one month and three month follow-up assessments.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALReflective Interpersonal Gratitude
Participants were given the following instructions in their journal: Writing is a great way to reflect on your daily events, helping to look back and focus on the good things in our lives. There are many things in our lives, big and small, which we might be grateful for. For the next three weeks, 3 times a week (9 days in total), reflect back on your day and think of the people you met and interacted with and are grateful for. Please write down in the space provided a number of positive social interactions over the day or friendships/relationships you are grateful for…..
BEHAVIORALReflective-Behavioral Gratitude
Participants were given the following identical instructions as the reflective journal in addition to this At the end of each week, express this gratitude to a friend of your choice face-to-face or through e-mail, facebook, a kind note, tell him/her how much you appreciate something specific that he/she does and reflect on how your friend's reaction and how you feel.
BEHAVIORALNeutral Control Journal
Writing is a great way to reflect on your daily events, helping to look back and reflect on our lives. For the next three weeks, 3 times a week (9 days in total), please write in the spaces provided things that happened during the day.
Sponsors
University of Limerick
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
TRIPLE (Subject, Investigator, Outcomes Assessor)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* English language proficiency
Exclusion criteria
* under the age of 18
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Changes in Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS). Diener, E. D., Emmons, R. A., Larsen, R. J., & Griffin, S. (1985). | Baseline, immediate post-intervention at three weeks,1 month, 3 months | Used to assess changes in life satisfaction levels over the course of the intervention and follow-ups. |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| National Institute of Health Social Relationships Companionship Scale which assess Friendship Quality and Loneliness. Cyranowski, J. M., Zill, N., Bode, R., Butt, Z., Kelly, M. A., Pilkonis, P. A., & Cella, D. (2013). | Baseline, immediate post-intervention at three weeks,1 month, 3 months | Used to assess changes in social relationships over the course of the intervention and follow-ups. |
| The Gratitude Questionnaire-Six Item Form (GQ-6) McCullough, M. E., Emmons, R. A., & Tsang, J. (2002). | Baseline, immediate post-intervention at three weeks,1 month, 3 months | Used to assess changes in gratitude levels over the course of the intervention and follow-ups. |
Other
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| The Expression of Gratitude in Relationships Scale. Lambert, N. M., Clarke, M. S., Durtschi, J. A., Fincham, F. D., & Graham, S. M. (2010). | Baseline, immediate post-intervention at three weeks,1 month, 3 months | Used to assess changes in levels of gratitude expression over the course of the intervention and follow-ups. |
| Depressive symptoms: CES-D 10 (Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale 10 item scale) Short Form. Andresen, E. M., Malmgren, J. A., Carter, W. B., & Patrick, D. L. (1994). | Baseline, immediate post-intervention at three weeks,,1 month, 3 months | Used to assess changes in depressive symptom levels over the course of the intervention and follow-ups. |
| The Four- item Relationship Satisfaction Scale. Funk, J. L., & Rogge, R. D. (2007). | Baseline, immediate post-intervention at three weeks,1 month, 3 months | Used to assess changes in relationship satisfaction levels over the course of the intervention and follow-ups. |
| Relationship closeness: Inclusion of other in the Self Scale Aron, A., Aron, E. N., & Smollan, D. (1992). | Baseline, immediate post-intervention at three weeks,1 month, 3 months | Used to assess changes in relationship closeness over the course of the intervention and follow-ups. |
| Scale of Positive and Negative Experiences , can use the Positive Feelings/affect subscale Diener, E., Wirtz, D., Tov, W., Kim-Prieto, C., Choi. D., Oishi, S., & Biswas-Diener, R. (2009). | Baseline, immediate post-intervention at three weeks,1 month, 3 months | potential moderator |
Countries
Ireland
Outcome results
None listed