This study examined the effects of gratitude enhancement program on the gratitude disposition and emotional
experience of institutionalized children. The program was conducted from June to August, 2014. Twenty
elementary school students were collected from one child shelter located in a metropolitan city, South Korea. Ten
students were assigned as a experimental group and the others as a control group. The program consisted of 10
sessions of group counseling with 50 minutes each. The results of the study were as follows: First, gratitude
disposition score of the experimental group was significantly enhanced than that of the control group. Second,
there is no significant difference in the posttest score of the positive/negative emotions between the two groups.
Therefore, the result of the study is that the gratitude enhancement program for the institutionalized children had
a significant effect on the gratitude disposition, however the program had no significant effect on the positive
emotions and reducing negative emotions. From the result of this research, some implications and suggestions are discussed.