Effects of a group forgiveness intervention on forgiveness, perceived stress, and trait-anger

The goal of this study was to evaluate the effects of a 6-week forgive-ness intervention on three outcomes: (a) offense-specific forgiveness, (b) forgiveness-likelihood in new situations, and (c) health-related psycho-social variables, such as perceived stress and trait-anger. Participants were 259 adults who had experienced a hurtful interpersonal transgression from which they still felt negative consequences. They were randomized to a forgiveness-training program or a no-treatment control group. The intervention reduced negative thoughts and feelings about the target transgression 2 to 3 times more effectively than the control condition, and it produced significantly greater increases in positive thoughts and feelings toward the transgressor. Significant treatment effects were also found for forgiveness self-efficacy, forgiveness generalized to new situa-tions, perceived stress, and trait-anger. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc