Zolotareva A.A. The Role of Gratitude, Sense of Belonging, and Forgiveness in the Somatic and Psychological Well-being of Persons with Respiratory Diseases

The main areas of impairments caused by respiratory diseases lie in the plane of the somatic and psychological functioning of patients and, thus, determine their quality of life, somatic health, and psychological well-being. Modern specialists, on the one hand, are actively studying psychological resources that protect persons with respiratory diseases from somatic and psychological distress (hope, optimism, resilience, etc.), while, on the other hand, they note the lack of such research and the need to accumulate knowledge about potential sources of somatic and psychological well-being.

The aim of this study was to examine the role of gratitude, sense of belonging, and forgiveness in the somatic and psychological well-being of persons with respiratory diseases.

The survey was conducted in August 2024 in online groups of patients with respiratory diseases and on medical forums with pulmonologists’ consultations. The responding volunteers (125 people with respiratory diseases) filled out a questionnaire containing the Gratitude Questionnaire (GQ-6), General Belonging Scale (GBS), Heartland Forgiveness Scale (HFS), Somatic Symptom Scale (Somatic Symptom Scale-8, SSS-8), Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7, GAD-7), Patient Health Questionnaire (Patient Health Questionnaire-9, PHQ-9), and Mental Health Continuum Short Form (MHC-SF).

The results showed that gratitude was associated with more pronounced emotional well-being; the sense of belonging was associated with less frequent and less intense anxiety and depressive symptoms, as well as with more pronounced emotional, social, and psychological well-being; forgiveness was associated with rarer and less intense anxiety symptoms, depression, and somatization, as well as with more pronounced emotional, social, and psychological well-being.

The current study allows us to conclude that gratitude, sense of belonging, and forgiveness play a positive role in the somatic and psychological well-being of persons with respiratory diseases. This conclusion encourages the study of other psychological resources that can have a beneficial effect on the somatic and psychological health of persons with chronic diseases, and suggests that practices aimed at developing gratitude, sense of belonging, and forgiveness can be useful psychological interventions for persons with respiratory diseases.

Key words: gratitude, sense of belonging, forgiveness, somatic well-being, psychological well-being, respiratory diseases, psychopulmonology

For citation: Zolotareva, A.A. (2025). The Role of Gratitude, Sense of Belonging, and Forgiveness in the Somatic and Psychological Well-being of Persons with Respiratory Diseases. New Psychological Research, No. 3, 182–202. DOI: 10.51217/npsyresearch_2025_05_03_09

Acknowledgement

The publication was prepared within the framework of the Academic Fund Program at HSE University (grant № 25-00-033 “Development of psychosomatic research in Russia”).