Gratitude Interventions for Academic Stress Among Pakistani Adolescents

Overview

The experimental nature of this study will provide the empirical data in analyzing the effectiveness of gratitude exercises which later can be adapted in stress reduction programs at school level. This research will focus on the school related positive life experiences for example thinking about a teacher/mentor kindness and contribution in their lives, then write a letter that describes their gratitude \& letter will be delivered to that person indirectly. This may help in focusing on the positive aspects of school life. This modification will serve as testing this new model for assessing the combined effect of gratitude interventions.

Academic stress is an inevitable part of students' lives with long-term negative consequences on physical health, mental well-being, and social relations. In Asian cultures, expectations of parents and teachers are additional components of academic stress which have not been addressed in different stress management programs. Therefore, the present research addresses these contributory stress factors by using gratitude interventions in Pakistani high schools. The study employs Broaden and Build Theory and Cognitive Appraisal Theory in formulating the intervention model and variables being tested through pretest-posttest experimental research design with a control group. A total of 102 high school students from two genders segregated schools of Rawalpindi city, Pakistan, served as the participants. They were randomly assigned into experimental and control groups, with 51 participants in each group. There were 41 boys and 61 girls with a mean age of 15.71+ 0.92 years. The measures included Academic Expectations Stress Inventory (AESI), Inventory of High-School Students' Recent Life Experiences (IHSSRLE), Modified Differential Emotions Scale (mDES), Gratitude Questionnaire-6 (GQ-6) and Gratitude Adjective Checklist (GAC). Three gratitude interventions, including Count your Blessings, Gratitude Letters and Loving-Kindness Meditation, were modified to focus on school-related experiences. The model consisted of nine sessions applied in schools for four weeks with 30-40 minutes each day. The research protocol and intervention model were adapted into Urdu for better understanding among participants. The data were analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistics (frequency, percentage, mean, SD, paired sample t-test, independent sample t-test, multivariate analysis of variance and effect size).