Psychosocial Benefits of Gratitude Journals

Happiness Clinical Trial

Official title:

Psychosocial Benefits of Gratitude Journals: A Randomized Controlled Intervention Trial

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT02570685
• Other study ID #: GratitudeJournal2015
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• First received: October 6, 2015
• Last updated: March 1, 2016
• Start date: October 2015
• Est. completion date: March 2016

Study information

• Verified date: March 2016
• Source: University of Limerick
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Health authority: Ireland: Research Ethics Committee
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

This randomized controlled study will examine the effects of different interpersonal gratitude journals compared to a neutral control journal on psycho social outcomes.

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.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 192
• Est. completion date: March 2016
• Est. primary completion date: March 2016
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: Both
• Age group: 18 Years and older

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• English language proficiency

Exclusion Criteria:

• under the age of 18

Study Design

Allocation: Randomized, Endpoint Classification: Efficacy Study, Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment, Masking: Double Blind (Subject, Investigator, Outcomes Assessor), Primary Purpose: Treatment

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Happiness

Intervention

Behavioral:
• Reflective 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…..
• Reflective-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."
• Neutral 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.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
Ireland	University of Limerick	Limerick	Munster

Sponsors (1)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
University of Limerick

Country where clinical trial is conducted

Ireland, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Other	The Expression of Gratitude in Relationships Scale. Lambert, N. M., Clarke, M. S., Durtschi, J. A., Fincham, F. D., & Graham, S. M. (2010).	Used to assess changes in levels of gratitude expression over the course of the intervention and follow-ups.	Baseline, immediate post-intervention at three weeks,1 month, 3 months	No
Other	The Four- item Relationship Satisfaction Scale. Funk, J. L., & Rogge, R. D. (2007).	Used to assess changes in relationship satisfaction levels over the course of the intervention and follow-ups.	Baseline, immediate post-intervention at three weeks,1 month, 3 months	No
Other	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).	Used to assess changes in depressive symptom levels over the course of the intervention and follow-ups.	Baseline, immediate post-intervention at three weeks,,1 month, 3 months	No
Other	Relationship closeness: Inclusion of other in the Self Scale Aron, A., Aron, E. N., & Smollan, D. (1992).	Used to assess changes in relationship closeness over the course of the intervention and follow-ups.	Baseline, immediate post-intervention at three weeks,1 month, 3 months	No
Other	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).	potential moderator	Baseline, immediate post-intervention at three weeks,1 month, 3 months	No
Primary	Changes in Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS). Diener, E. D., Emmons, R. A., Larsen, R. J., & Griffin, S. (1985).	Used to assess changes in life satisfaction levels over the course of the intervention and follow-ups.	Baseline, immediate post-intervention at three weeks,1 month, 3 months	No
Secondary	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).	Used to assess changes in social relationships over the course of the intervention and follow-ups.	Baseline, immediate post-intervention at three weeks,1 month, 3 months	No
Secondary	The Gratitude Questionnaire-Six Item Form (GQ-6) McCullough, M. E., Emmons, R. A., & Tsang, J. (2002).	Used to assess changes in gratitude levels over the course of the intervention and follow-ups.	Baseline, immediate post-intervention at three weeks,1 month, 3 months	No