An exploratory study carried out by Sarah Smith L’Estrange BA (Hons) Psychology, and Prof. Sinead McGilloway, assessed the perceived effectiveness of the ‘My Gratitude Journal’, which is described as being a Positive Psychology Intervention( PPI).
The ‘My Gratitude Journal’( MGJ) is a 26- week programme that was developed in Ireland by a company called Positive Vibes in 2019. This school-based gratitude intervention was designed with the view to teaching children the relevant skills to promote aspects of their overall wellbeing, through a series of activities that are guided by the journal over the 26-week duration. Targeted aspects of wellbeing include amongst others, happiness, resilience, empathy and self-esteem.
Overall, the preliminary findings -based on feedback from both teachers and parents- suggest that the ‘MGJ’ was perceived as being helpful to children in several domains including improvements in important aspects of their wellbeing, their family/social relationships and their outlook on life. In addition, the participating parents and teachers reported being satisfied with the overall utility/ accessibility of the journal. The findings also suggest there to be considerable merit in the delivery of the intervention to a larger number of schools and carrying out a larger -scale evaluation of its outcomes and implementation, to inform any future development and delivery of the programme.
Please access this CMHCR summary report below: