Development of a gratitude intervention model and investigation of the effects of such a program on employee well-being, engagement, job satisfaction and psychological capital.
Bo Harty, John-Anders Gustafsson, Monica Thorén and 2 others
PMID 39177634WHAT IT FOUND
After 10 weeks, employees in gratitude groups reported better well-being, job satisfaction and engagement than controls, but the small differences were gone at 6 months.
Managers rated the experience positive.
Key findings
01At the post-intervention check, the gratitude group scored higher on well-being, job satisfaction and engagement than controls, but the differences were small.
02At 6 months, the intervention and control groups no longer differed on any of the four measures.
03Of participants answering the open questions, 142 of 173 reported positive effects and 162 of 183 reported positive experiences.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
Dropout was high and reasons were not collected: 147 of 647 did not respond at the first assessment, 230 at the second, and 280 at the third. The control group was passive, so attention or expectation effects cannot be ruled out. The post-intervention differences were small (eta squared = 0.02). No between-group differences remained at 6 months. Allocation was not described as random, and subgroup analyses had small numbers in some units. Participants came only from public workplaces in western Sweden and were mainly women, so results may not apply to private settings. The study measured employee self-report outcomes, not patient care, customer satisfaction or service quality.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that this gratitude program has lasting effects. At 6 months, no between-group differences remained on any of the four measures, and the post-intervention differences were small.