Positive psychology interventions in people aged 50–79 years: long-term effects of placebo-controlled online interventions on well-being and depression

Abstract

Objectives: Various positive psychology interventions have been experimentally tested, but only few studies addressed the effects of such activities in participants aged 50 and above. Method: We tested the impact of four self-administered positive psychology interventions in an online setting (i.e., gratitude visit, three good things, three funny things, and using signature strengths in a new way) on happiness and depressive symptoms in comparison with a placebo control exercise (i.e., early memories). A total of 163 females aged 50-79 tried the assigned interventions or the placebo control exercise for one week and completed measures on happiness and depressive symptoms at five times (pre-and post-test, 1, 3, and 6 months). Results: Three out of the four interventions (i.e., gratitude visit, three good things, and using signature strengths in a new way) increased happiness, whereas two interventions (three funny things and using signature strengths in a new way) led to a reduction of depressive symptoms on at one post-measure. Conclusion: Positive psychology interventions yield similar results for people aged 50 and above as for younger people. The dissemination of such interventions via the Internet offers a valuable opportunity for older age groups as well.

Humor-based online positive psychology interventions: A randomized placebo-controlled long-term trial

“…They found increases in happiness at the onemonth and three-months follow-up and an amelioration of depression at every follow-up time point (up to six-months) in comparison to the placebo control condition (writing about early memories). In a recent study Proyer, Gander, Wellenzohn, and Ruch (2014) replicated these findings in a sample of people aged 50 to 79 for depressive symptoms, but for happiness only for the six-months follow-up. Overall, the literature on humor-based PPIs is scarce, but findings are promising.…”

“…When comparing sample characteristics across the three studies where this intervention has been used (i.e., the present study; Gander et al, 2013;Proyer et al, 2014), the baseline levels of depression seem to differ. Obviously levels of depression were lowest in this study, because we excluded those participants above a (sensitive) threshold for depression.…”

Nine beautiful things: A self-administered online positive psychology intervention on the beauty in nature, arts, and behaviors increases happiness and ameliorates depressive symptoms

“…It consists of 33 sets of five statements describing an individual's feelings during the past week (e.g., "My life is a bad one" through "My life is a wonderful one"). The AHI has been widely used in research; good psychometric properties and support for its validity have been reported (e.g., Gander et al, 2013;Proyer et al, 2014;Shapira & Mongrain, 2010). The alpha coefficient in this sample was .93 (pre-test).…”

“…However, the expectations for the sustainability of the effects are of exploratory nature only. Only few interventions are effective for a time span of up to six months (see e.g., Gander et al, 2013;Mongrain & Anselmo-Matthews, 2012;Proyer et al, 2014;Seligman et al, 2005).…”

“…The beauty intervention is an adaptation of Diessner et al's (2006) instruction combined with elements of the "three good things" (Seligman et al, 2005) / "three funny things"-intervention (Gander et al, 2013;Proyer et al, 2014; in press) to make it more suitable for application in a self-administered setting. This led to the development of the "9 beautiful things"-intervention.…”