Book of Abstracts

The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of writing a secularly- or spiritually-oriented gratitude letter on levels of gratitude, stress, mood, and spirituality. Participants (N = 57) were recruited via social media and tasked with writing a gratitude letter in either a secular or spiritual framework, or they were assigned to a control condition where they wrote an eating journal. The study was conducted online, and measures included gratitude, stress, overall mood, and spirituality. It was hypothesized that the secular and spiritual gratitude groups would show beneficial results of the exercise on gratitude, stress, mood, and spirituality. Spiritual gratitude writing was expected to show even stronger effects on spirituality, as compared to the secular gratitude writing group and the control group. Results largely confirmed the hypotheses. Gratitude, positive affect, and spirituality were all enhanced because of either letter-writing exercise. Spiritual gratitude letter writing, however, did not preferentially enhance spirituality, as compared to secular gratitude letter writing. Only secular gratitude letter writing reduced stress levels, as compared to the control group. No group differences were observed on negative affect. Both spiritually- and secularly-based gratitude exercises enhanced gratitude, positive affect, and spirituality. Consequently, tailoring gratitude interventions to suit an individual’s spiritual or secular orientations does not differentially impact outcomes in either a positive or negative direction. Practitioners of gratitude for wellness, mood uplift, and spirituality should choose their preferred methods without concern for effectiveness.