The effect of gratitude intervention on anxiety and depressive symptoms among university students in Malaysia

Gratitude is related to lesser depression and anxiety level. In this study, we tested the effectiveness of a newly developed gratitude intervention protocol which combines several gratitude-based activities that have been thoroughly studied in previous research with some modifications on the availab...

Full description

Saved in:

Bibliographic Details
Main Author:	Kamarulzaman, Nur Syahrain
Format:	Thesis
Language:	English
Published:	2021
Subjects:	R Medicine
Online Access:	http://eprints.usm.my/52371/1/Nur%20Syahrain%20Kamarulzaman-24%20pages.pdf
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!

id	my-usm-ep.52371
record_format	uketd_dc
spelling	my-usm-ep.523712022-04-21T03:35:34Z The effect of gratitude intervention on anxiety and depressive symptoms among university students in Malaysia 2021 Kamarulzaman, Nur Syahrain R Medicine Gratitude is related to lesser depression and anxiety level. In this study, we tested the effectiveness of a newly developed gratitude intervention protocol which combines several gratitude-based activities that have been thoroughly studied in previous research with some modifications on the available activities. The aim of this study was to measure the effect of the four-week gratitude intervention program on anxiety and depressive symptoms, positive affect, negative affect, and gratitude. Participants (N = 43) were recruited among undergraduate students of one public university in Malaysia. A total of 22 participants were assigned to the gratitude intervention group, and another 21 participants were assigned to the control group. Instruments used to measure the outcome variables include the 21-item Malay translated Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (Malay-DASS), Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), and the six-item Gratitude Questionnaire (GQ-6). The stated questionnaires were given as pre-assessment and post-assessment after completion of the 4-week intervention program. The results of the study show that the gratitude intervention program led to a significant reduction in depressive and anxiety symptoms, lower negative affect, as well as increase in positive affect and gratitude level. These findings suggest that gratitude intervention may be helpful to improve the psychological state of university students in Malaysia. These findings are in agreement with the broaden-and-built theory which suggest that gratitude as a positive emotion helps to broaden people’ way of thinking instead of just focusing on the negatives which also encourage people to explore resources available that will help them to build more positive experiences. These skills developed from the experience of gratitude are important to help people cope with emotional difficulties and life adversities, which explain why the gratitude intervention caused reduction in depressive and anxiety symptoms. 2021 Thesis http://eprints.usm.my/52371/ http://eprints.usm.my/52371/1/Nur%20Syahrain%20Kamarulzaman-24%20pages.pdf application/pdf en public masters Universiti Sains Malaysia Pusat Pengajian Sains Perubatan
institution	Universiti Sains Malaysia
collection	USM Institutional Repository
language	English
topic	R Medicine
spellingShingle	R Medicine Kamarulzaman, Nur Syahrain The effect of gratitude intervention on anxiety and depressive symptoms among university students in Malaysia
description	Gratitude is related to lesser depression and anxiety level. In this study, we tested the effectiveness of a newly developed gratitude intervention protocol which combines several gratitude-based activities that have been thoroughly studied in previous research with some modifications on the available activities. The aim of this study was to measure the effect of the four-week gratitude intervention program on anxiety and depressive symptoms, positive affect, negative affect, and gratitude. Participants (N = 43) were recruited among undergraduate students of one public university in Malaysia. A total of 22 participants were assigned to the gratitude intervention group, and another 21 participants were assigned to the control group. Instruments used to measure the outcome variables include the 21-item Malay translated Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (Malay-DASS), Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), and the six-item Gratitude Questionnaire (GQ-6). The stated questionnaires were given as pre-assessment and post-assessment after completion of the 4-week intervention program. The results of the study show that the gratitude intervention program led to a significant reduction in depressive and anxiety symptoms, lower negative affect, as well as increase in positive affect and gratitude level. These findings suggest that gratitude intervention may be helpful to improve the psychological state of university students in Malaysia. These findings are in agreement with the broaden-and-built theory which suggest that gratitude as a positive emotion helps to broaden people’ way of thinking instead of just focusing on the negatives which also encourage people to explore resources available that will help them to build more positive experiences. These skills developed from the experience of gratitude are important to help people cope with emotional difficulties and life adversities, which explain why the gratitude intervention caused reduction in depressive and anxiety symptoms.
format	Thesis
qualification_level	Master's degree
author	Kamarulzaman, Nur Syahrain
author_facet	Kamarulzaman, Nur Syahrain
author_sort	Kamarulzaman, Nur Syahrain
title	The effect of gratitude intervention on anxiety and depressive symptoms among university students in Malaysia
title_short	The effect of gratitude intervention on anxiety and depressive symptoms among university students in Malaysia
title_full	The effect of gratitude intervention on anxiety and depressive symptoms among university students in Malaysia
title_fullStr	The effect of gratitude intervention on anxiety and depressive symptoms among university students in Malaysia
title_full_unstemmed	The effect of gratitude intervention on anxiety and depressive symptoms among university students in Malaysia
title_sort	effect of gratitude intervention on anxiety and depressive symptoms among university students in malaysia
granting_institution	Universiti Sains Malaysia
granting_department	Pusat Pengajian Sains Perubatan
publishDate	2021
url	http://eprints.usm.my/52371/1/Nur%20Syahrain%20Kamarulzaman-24%20pages.pdf
_version_	1747822171886977024

The effect of gratitude intervention on anxiety and depressive symptoms among university students in Malaysia

Similar Items