Online Gratitude Interventions during COVID- 19 Pandemic on Youth: Randomized Trial

ABSTRACT

Purpose

This investigation purports to study if gratitude interventions lead to an increase in overall wellbeing among Indian youth during the coronavirus lockdown. Second, to examine if a cumulative effect of two gratitude interventions on wellbeing is greater than a single gratitude intervention.

Method

Participants (N = 80) were randomly allocated to the experimental and control groups (n = 40 each).

Result

It was found that after administering a single gratitude intervention there was a significant increase in mental health, happiness, and gratitude and a decrease in depression, anxiety, and stress in the experimental group. Moreover, after administering two gratitude interventions together, a greater increase was seen in these variables as compared to the administration of a single gratitude intervention. There was no significant change in the control group in both cases.

Conclusion

In summary, online gratitude interventions lead to increase in happiness and mental health and decrease in depression, anxiety, and stress even during crises such as the coronavirus pandemic. Moreover, the cumulative effect of two gratitude interventions is more than a single gratitude intervention. It is suggested that these gratitude interventions should be included in providing mental health care even when clients are not able to meet counselors in physical settings.

KEYWORDS:

• Youth
• well-being
• gratitude interventions
• mental health
• positive psychology

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Dr. Poulomi Bhattacharya and Dr. Radeef Chundakkadan for their suggestions on statistical analyses.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data will be made available to the reader upon personal request to the first author.

Other information based on CONSORT guidelines

This research was not funded and is not pre-registered in a clinical trials registry.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.