Effectiveness of a Brief Gratitude Writing Intervention on State Optimism, State Gratitude, and Psychological Distress

NCT07588451 | Not Yet Recruiting

• 1 other identifier: 46hv4152kbj2451
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 96
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The goal of the study is to investigate the effectiveness of brief writing interventions on state optimism, state gratitude and psychological distress among female university students. There are three groups; gratitude writing group where participants are required to write about the things they are grateful for, expressive writing group where participants are required to write about their deepest feelings and thoughts from last week and a control group where participants just write about the tasks they completed in the past week.

Conditions

Psychological Distress

Keywords

gratitude writing; expressive writing; state optimism; state gratitude; psychological distress; brief interventions

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• State Optimism measured by State Optimism Measure

  Change in state optimism assessed using the State Optimism Measure. Higher scores indicate greater levels of state optimism.

  Baseline (pre-intervention) and immediately after the intervention

Secondary Outcomes (2)

• State gratitude measured by the Gratitude Adjective Checklist

  Baseline (pre-intervention) and immediately after the intervention

• Psychological distress measured by the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10)

  Baseline (pre-intervention) and immediately after the intervention

Study Arms (3)

Gratitude Writing

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants write about the things they are grateful. They are given a total of 10 mins with no language or structural limit or restriction for the writing.

Other: Gratitude Writing Intervention

Expressive Writing

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

Participants are asked to write about their deepest thoughts and feelings from the past week for a period of 10 mins without any language or structure limit or restriction.

Other: Expressive Writing

Control

SHAM COMPARATOR

The participants were asked to write about the tasks they completed in the past week for 10 mins without any language of structure limit or restriction

Other: Neutral writing

Interventions

Gratitude Writing Intervention OTHER

Participants write the things they are grateful and thankful in their life for. It could be anything they want to write about for a period of 10 mins. They can write it in the language of their own choice and in what ever format they prefer.

Gratitude Writing

Expressive Writing OTHER

Participants write about their deepest feelings and thoughts from the past week. They are given 10 mins to write. They can write in language of their own choice and in any format they prefer.

Expressive Writing

Neutral writing OTHER

Participants are asked to write about the tasks they have completed in the past week in 10 mins. They can write in the language of their choice and in any format they prefer

Control

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 25 Years
• Gender Eligibility Details: Only female students were eligible to participate
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64)

You may qualify if:

• Female undergraduate students
• Students scoring mild to moderate distress on Kessler Psychological Distress scale

You may not qualify if:

• Female university students enrolled in psychology programs
• Students with physical disability
• Students who are already in therapy

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Kinnaird College for Women: lead

Study Sites (1)

Kinnaird College For Women University

Lahore, Punjab Province, 54000, Pakistan

Location

Central Study Contacts

Kainat Safdar

CONTACT

+923164684767; kainat.safder@gmail.com

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: NON RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: OTHER
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Principal Investigator

Model Details: The study used a pretest-posttest quasi-experimental non-equivalent control group research design

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: April 30, 2026
• First Posted: May 14, 2026
• Study Start (Estimated): June 20, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): August 1, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): August 1, 2026
• Last Updated: May 14, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-05

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

PA (1)