Gratitude exercise and well-being in relation to spirituality: A mixed-method study

Abstract

Previous studies have shown inconsistent results regarding the effectiveness of gratitude exercises on well-being. Several researchers suggested this inconsistency could be due to the frequency of performing the exercise, the type of comparison group used in the study, and due to the presence of some moderators like positive affect, trait gratitude, spirituality, religiosity, etc. Out of these variables, the present study tried to examine the role of spirituality. The present investigation experimentally studied the effect of a 4-week gratitude exercise on the well-being of a sample of working Indian adults while examining spirituality as a moderator. Participants were randomly allotted to the gratitude exercise group and control group, consisting of 60 participants in each group (N = 120). The present study employed a sequential explanatory mixed method. The quantitative results were analyzed using a mixed-design ANOVA. The results found a significant increase in gratitude, satisfaction with life, and positive affect and a significant decrease in the negative affect of participants in the gratitude group at post-exercise and follow-up compared to the control group. Spirituality was found to be a significant moderator as participants with high levels of spirituality benefited the most from the gratitude exercise. For the qualitative part, an interpretative phenomenological analysis was used. Three themes: Experience of performing the gratitude exercise, gratitude expressed towards and, benefits of the exercise were identified which were further categorized under several subthemes. Mixing of the study was done at the interpretation level where qualitative data was used to contextualize the quantitative findings.