Effect of the “Thank You-T” gratitude education program (TYGEPT) on gratitude levels of Turkish elementary school teachers

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to develop and examine the effectiveness of the “Thank You-T”Gratitude Education Program (TYGEP-T) for Turkish elementary school teachers. TYGEP-T aims tocontribute elementary school teachers to develop their skills to recognize and express gratitude and reviewthe school-based activities they can do to make gratitude a part of their “school culture”. A pre-test, posttest, and follow-up experimental design with one treatment and one none-treatment control group wereused to examine the effectiveness of the program, with a sample of 23 elementary school teachers. Resultsrevealed that after the TYGEP-T a significant difference appeared between the total gratitude scores of theexperimental group and the control group. This difference disappeared in the follow-up test. Moreover, inthis study in a more different way than the former studies, the effects of the program on the sub-dimensionsof gratitude, Lack of Sense of Deprivation (LOSD), Simple Appreciation (SA) and Appreciation of Others(AO), were examined. In terms of subscale scores, while the program is considered effective in increasingLOSD and AO scores, permanency was only observed in AO scores.