State gratitude for one’s life and health after an acute coronary syndrome: Prospective associations with physical activity, medical adherence and re-hospitalizations
Open accessAbstract
Gratitude may be associated with beneficial health outcomes, but studies of this association have been mixed, and in these studies gratitude has often been conceptualized as a stable, unidimensional trait. We used four specific items to examine the prospective association of state- and domain-specific gratitude with medical outcomes among 152 patients with a recent acute coronary syndrome. State gratitude for one's health 2 weeks post-event was associated with increased physical activity (measured via accelerometer) 6 months later, controlling for relevant demographic, social, medical and psychological factors (β=340.9; 95% confidence interval=53.4-628.4; p=.020). Gratitude for one's life was associated with increased self-reported medical adherence at 6 months on the maximally adjusted model (β=.60; 95% confidence interval=.16-1.04; p=.008); no gratitude items were associated with rehospitalizations. In contrast, dispositional gratitude, measured by the Gratitude Questionnaire-6, was less dynamic and responsive to change over the 6-month period and was not associated with physical activity.
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Among patients with ACS, gratitude is associated with increased self-reported medication adherence.
“Among patients with ACS, gratitude was associated with increased self-reported medication adherence, 90”
From Psychological Health, Well-Being, and the Mind-Heart-Body Connection: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association (2021) · cites this paper as [90]
The Results (Associations between state gratitude items and medical outcomes; page unavailable) report that gratitude for life and dispositional gratitude were associated with greater self-reported medical adherence at six months. The Methods (Outcome variables; page unavailable) define that outcome as a composite of physical activity, diet, stress reduction, and medication adherence. The paper does not establish the association for medication adherence separately; gratitude for health was not associated with the composite outcome. (LLM, conf=0.87)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredHealth-related optimism or gratitude constructs have been linked to better recovery in cardiac patients.
“Although many studies have examined relationships between general well-being and cardiac health, inquiries about health-related optimism or gratitude flow much more easily in a clinical encounter, and such constructs have been linked to better recovery in cardiac patients. 90,229”
From Psychological Health, Well-Being, and the Mind-Heart-Body Connection: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association (2021) · cites this paper as [90]
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Cited by
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Levine, G. N., Cohen, B. E., Commodore-Mensah, Y., Fleury, J., Huffman, J. C., Khalid, U., Labarthe, D. R., Lavretsky, H., Michos, E. D., Spatz, E. S., et al. (2021) · Circulation · doi:10.1161/cir.0000000000000947 · Cited by 865 · see citing works
Self-citation
- Authors
- Legler, S. R., Beale, E. E., Celano, C. M., Beach, S. R., Healy, B. C., & Huffman, J. C.
- Affiliations
- Harvard University (US)
- Massachusetts General Hospital (US)
- Corresponding author
- Huffman, Jeff C.
- ORCID
- Venue
- The Journal of Positive Psychology
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2018-01-04
- Volume
- 14
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 283-291
- ISSN
- 1743-9760 (ISSN-L)
- 1743-9779
- PMC
- PMC6583888
- OpenAlex
- W2781811502
- Cited by
- 21
- References
- 11
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 4 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 2 · 2018: 1
- FWCI
- 2.37
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- The Journal of Positive Psychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- John Templeton Foundation (15627)
- National Institutes of Health (K23HL123607, R01HL113272)
- UC Berkeley Greater Good Science Center and the John Templeton Foundation (15627)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine › Cardiac Health and Mental Health
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Optimism, Hope, and Well-being
- Keywords
- gratitude, state gratitude, acute coronary syndrome, physical activity, medication adherence, hospital readmission, dispositional gratitude, health outcomes, positive psychology interventions
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