Poster Presentation International Positive Psychology Association 8th IPPA World Congress 2023

Gratitude training for promoting subjective well-being: Comparing journaling to a personalized menu approach  (#655)

Conner L Deichman 1 , Jared S Warren 1
  1. Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, United States

Background

The most common gratitude practice is the use of a gratitude journal. To date, there has been no comparison of gratitude journaling to a menu-based gratitude training approach. The MyBestSelf101 (MBS101) gratitude module is an online gratitude resource that includes both psychoeducational content and empirically supported gratitude practices while seeking to apply a modular, menu-based, personalized approach to gratitude practice (https://www.mybestself101.org/gratitude).

Aims

1: Examine whether the MBS101 module participants show increased gratitude and subjective well-being (SWB) from pre- to post-test.

2: Examine whether the MBS101group had relatively better gratitude and SWB outcomes than the journaling group.

3: Examine whether practice time predicts increased gratitude and SWB outcomes for the MBS101 group more than the journaling group.

Method

252 participants were randomly assigned to use the MBS101 gratitude module (117) or to use a gratitude journal (135) for 21 days. MBS101 participants interacted the with module 20 minutes per day. Journaling participants kept a gratitude journal every other day. Participants completed measures of gratitude and subjective well-being at pre- and post-test, tracked daily gratitude practice time, and completed weekly accountability surveys. All analyses were conducted using multiple regression.

Results

1: The MBS101 proved to be effective from pre- to post-test on all measures of gratitude and SWB (d = 0.76–1.14).

2: The MBS101 group was a significant predictor beyond gratitude journaling in all gratitude measures (p<.05, d = 0.14–0.29) and 3 of 4 SWB measures (p < .05; d = 0-0.20).

3: A Time-by-Group interaction was a significant predictor in 2 of 4 gratitude measures and 3 of 4 SWB measures (p<.05). 

Conclusion

The MBS101 module showed relatively greater increases for gratitude and subjective well-being than did gratitude journaling. Additionally, Time-by-Group interactions showed increased gains for the MBS101 module over journaling. This suggests a more extensive, personalized, and adaptive gratitude practice approach may lead to better outcomes. 

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