Thankful for the Little Things: A Meta-Analysis of Gratitude Interventions

Overview

This document is a meta-analysis of gratitude interventions by Davis et al., published in the Journal of Counseling Psychology.
The analysis evaluates the efficacy of gratitude interventions compared to measurement-only controls and alternative activities.

A previous qualitative review by Wood, Froh, and Geraghty (2010) questioned the efficacy of gratitude interventions, indicating the need for more thorough comparison groups.

To assess the effectiveness of gratitude interventions on three outcomes:
- Gratitude
- Anxiety
- Psychological well-being

Conducted across numerous studies (ks = 418; Ns = 3951,755)
Compared gratitude interventions with:
- Measurement-only controls
- Alternative activity conditions

Psychological Well-being:
- Gratitude interventions were more effective than measurement-only controls (d = .31, 95% CI [.04, .58])
- Outperformed alternative activities (d = .17, 95% CI [.09, .24])
- No significant difference to psychologically active comparisons (d = .03, 95% CI [-.13, .07])
Gratitude:
- More effective than alternative activities (d = .46, 95% CI [.27, .64])
- Not significantly better than a measurement-only control (d = .20, 95% CI [.04, .44])
Anxiety:
- No significant difference in effectiveness compared to alternative activities (d = .11, 95% CI [-.08, .31])

Gratitude interventions show promise in improving psychological well-being and gratitude but less so for reducing anxiety.
Suggestions for future research include:
- More detailed subdivisions in studies
- Further exploration of gratitude interventions against psychologically active comparisons