The impact of gratitude practice on well-being and mental health in post-COVID times among Portuguese adults

Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic influenced the physical and mental health of millions of people around the world. Now, that the COVID emergency is over, its repercussions remain and management plans on how to regain emotional stability are discussed worldwide. The study examined the role of the multidimensional gratitude practice in regaining mental health and facilitating post-traumatic growth in post-COVID times. The weekly gratitude tasks were: gratitude diary, expressing gratitude, finding gratitude in past or current life, and practicing grateful mind. 63 Portuguese adults completed the study, 30 in the experimental and 33 in the control group. Before random allocation to the groups (pre-intervention Time 1), participants completed questionnaires on gratitude (GQ-6), depression, anxiety, stress (DASS-21), social safeness and pleasure (SSPS), satisfaction with life (SWLS), positive and negative affect (I-PANAS-SF), compassion motivation and action (CMAS) and post-traumatic growth (PTGI). Participants from the experimental group, at post-intervention (T2), showed significantly higher scores in life satisfaction, positive affect, compassion for others and post-traumatic growth compared with baseline (T1) and the waitlist group. They also showed a significant decrease in depression, stress and negative affect levels. No significant difference in anxiety or self-compassion was observed in the within-group or between-group comparison, which might be partially explained by the focus of the tasks, concentrated on finding gratitude outside rather than in self, and the timing of the intervention, being just after worldwide pandemic evoking fear of the unknown future. In conclusion, gratitude practice decreases psychological disturbance and enhances psychological well-being, compassion for others and facilitates post-traumatic growth in post-COVID reality. Due to the findings’ preliminary nature more research is needed to confirm the data.