Several types of gratitude interventions have been shown to benefit mental health such as keeping a gratitude journal (Emmons & McCullough, 2003; Kerr et al., 2015) and writing gratitude letters (Shin et al., 2020; Toepfer et al., 2012). Although gratitude interventions have been effective with a variety of populations, only a few studies have examined how they impact older adults (Killen & Macaskill, 2015; Lau & Cheng, 2011). Gratitude interventions may be helpful to older adults facing health challenges, the loss of loved ones, or other common difficulties associated with aging. By using a virtual group intervention format, participants can provide each other support, encouragement, and inspirational examples of gratitude.

We developed and tested the effectiveness of a virtual group gratitude intervention for adults ages 59 and older (n= 129). We randomly assigned participants to an intervention (n = 64) or a waitlist condition (n = 65). The intervention, which was facilitated by trained college students, consisted of four 75-minute small group sessions on Zoom and weekly homework exercises. Participants completed online surveys at pretest and posttest assessing background variables, gratitude (Gratitude Experience, Gratitude Expression, Gratitude Obstacles), and well-being (Sleep Problems, Depression, Loneliness, Positive Affect, Physical Health). Outcomes were analyzed using hierarchical linear models to account for the multilevel structure of the data. Compared to the waitlist, intervention participants increased more on Gratitude Experience (β = 1.91; p = .024) and Positive Affect (β = 2.74, p = .011), and decreased more on Gratitude Obstacles (β = -1.10; p = .034) and Depression (β = -1.66; p = .017) after controlling for background variables. Most participants reported enjoying the intervention and 88.7% indicated they were “fairly likely” or “very likely” to continue doing gratitude exercises. Implications and study limitations will be discussed.