Gratitude and Self-Perceived Stress in an Online Doctoral Program

The purpose of this quasi-experimental quantitative research study was to examine the extent to which a relationship exists between the use of mindfulness interventions, specifically the use of a gratitude journal, and self-perceived stress in students enrolled within a doctoral program at a Christian university located within the southwestern region of the United States. The sample consisted of 292 doctoral students (n = 292) from a single Christian university. This study involved six courses within three different doctoral programs. Participants completed the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) in the second week of the course and again in the sixth week of the course. Data were analyzed using a paired t-test. We found that the use of mindfulness interventions, specifically the use of a gratitude journal, had no statistical significance on doctoral student's self-perceived stress and the null hypothesis could not be rejected.