Promoting Positive Emotions in Older Adults: A Self-help Relational Savoring e-Intervention

Promoting positive emotions in older adults appears to be a path to support healthy aging and prevent mental disorders such as depression. To reach this goal, relational savoring (RS) appears to be a promising approach. RS is a specific type of savoring that emphasizes relational contents and consists in stimulating people to focus on positive relational experiences. This study aims to investigate the feasibility of a self-help relational savoring e-intervention on savoring beliefs and strategies and on positive and negative emotions in older adults. This study also evaluates the user experience and the perceived usefulness of the e-intervention. Eleven participants were involved and completed the e-intervention, consisting of two online RS exercises per week for three weeks, for a total of six exercises. To investigate participants’ changes in psychological dimensions (e.g., savoring beliefs and strategies and positive and negative emotions), online questionnaires were proposed before and after the intervention; to evaluate participants’ experiences, a qualitative questionnaire was proposed at the end of each exercise. Paired t-tests revealed significant improvements in savoring strategies and positive emotions. The online platform was positively evaluated, and most of the participants considered the training useful. The results of this feasibility study are promising and suggest that the intervention has the potential to promote savoring and positive emotions in older adults. Future research could involve a larger sample and include randomized controlled trials to evaluate its efficacy.