University of Twente Student Theses
The practice of gratitude in times of adversity: A 6-week gratitude intervention during the corona pandemic
Kölsch, Samuel J. (2021) The practice of gratitude in times of adversity: A 6-week gratitude intervention during the corona pandemic.
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| Abstract: | As the current corona pandemic led to psychological distress and low levels of well-being within the population, appropriate interventions were needed to neutralize these consequences. One suitable intervention to counteract the observed development would be the practice of gratitude. Regarding the ambiguous research results about the efficacy of gratitude interventions, the present study aimed to investigate the effect of a 6-week gratitude application on well-being. Furthermore, potential moderating factors of the intervention: baseline well-being, age, and gender were explored. A total sample of 849 participants was utilized, consisting of individuals from 18 years to 83 years (M = 52.9, SD = 14.5) with a majority of women (79.8%). Participants were randomly assigned to either intervention group or waitlist control group. They were asked to fill out baseline and post-test measurements, assessing demographic features, well-being scores, grateful mood and adherence. Results showed that the gratitude intervention had a significant moderate effect on overall levels of well-being, compared to the waitlist control group. Furthermore, the subscales: subjective, social, and psychological well-being were almost equally affected through the intervention with a small to moderate effect size. Unexpectedly, participants with higher levels of well-being at baseline were affected more by the intervention than participants with lower well-being levels at baseline. Neither age nor gender had an influence on the efficacy of the intervention. Additionally, the present study was the first to investigate the effect of a gratitude intervention in the form of an online application. Considering the significant moderate effect size in the current study, the use of online applications for gratitude interventions should be supported and further investigated. Finally, the present study showed that a 6-week gratitude application is a is a suitable means to increase levels of well-being. |
| Item Type: | Essay (Master) |
| Faculty: | BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences |
| Subject: | 77 psychology |
| Programme: | Psychology MSc (66604) |
| Link to this item: | https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/87925 |
| Export this item as: | BibTeX EndNote HTML Citation Reference Manager |
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