“…First, is a focus on human interest stories where people describe how they met their pen pal and how they have grown emotionally and intellectually from the relationship (Alifirenka & Ganda, 2015; Burkholder, 2001; Henes, 2011; Smith, 1995; Snyder, 2007). While many of these are more general interest writings, other have used studies involving pen pals for more academic based research such as adult literacy (Larrotta & Serrano, 2012), exploring forgiveness (Enright et al., 2014), understanding life in war‐torn areas (Jones & Swanson, 2009; Ott, 2014), and chronic disease (Kralik, Koch & Brady, 2000).…”