Analytical Plan

The present study examined relationships among gratitude, wellbeing, and acceptance of illness, and it examined if acceptance of illness mediated relationships between gratitude and wellbeing, gratitude and anxiety, and gratitude and depression. First, we examined correlations among the measures. Then, we conducted a series of mediation analyses to estimate the direct and indirect effect of gratitude on the aforementioned outcomes, model 4 in the PROCESS macro for SPSS (Hayes, 2018). Following the advice of Hayes et al. (2017), we used PROCESS instead of structural equation modeling.

We estimated indirect effects using the percentile bootstrap method with 5,000 samples, and we report 95% confidence intervals for effects. Finally, on an exploratory basis, we conducted a series of moderated mediation analyses (model 8 in PROCESS). These analyses determined if the mediation of relationships between gratitude and wellbeing by acceptance of illness varied as a function of whether participants had received a formal diagnosis of clinical depression prior to the study.