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

Effectiveness of a Brief Gratitude Writing Intervention on State Optimism, State Gratitude, and Psychological Distress Among Female University Students

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.

Study Overview

• Status: Not yet recruiting
• Conditions: Psychological Distress
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Gratitude Writing Intervention; Other: Expressive Writing; Other: Neutral writing

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 96
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Kainat Safdar; Phone Number: +923164684767; Email: kainat.safder@gmail.com

Study Locations

• Pakistan
  • Punjab Province
    • Lahore, Punjab Province, Pakistan, 54000
      • Kinnaird College For Women University

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

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

Exclusion Criteria:

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

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Other
• Allocation: Non-Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

3

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Gratitude Writing; 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; 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.
Active Comparator: Expressive Writing; 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; 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.
Sham Comparator: Control; 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; 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

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
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 Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
State gratitude measured by the Gratitude Adjective Checklist	Change in state gratitude assessed using the Gratitude Adjective Checklist. Higher scores indicate greater levels of state gratitude.	Baseline (pre-intervention) and immediately after the intervention
Psychological distress measured by the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10)	Change in psychological distress assessed using the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10). Total scores range from 10 to 50, with higher scores indicating greater psychological distress.	Baseline (pre-intervention) and immediately after the intervention

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Kinnaird College for Women

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Estimated): June 20, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): August 1, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): August 1, 2026

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: April 30, 2026
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 10, 2026
• First Posted (Actual): May 14, 2026

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): May 14, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 10, 2026
• Last Verified: May 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: psychological distress; brief interventions; expressive writing; gratitude writing; state optimism; state gratitude
• Other Study ID Numbers: 46hv4152kbj2451

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No