Community Health Journal

Community Health Journal

The Effectiveness of Well-being Therapy in Loneliness and Death Anxiety Among the Elderly in Mashhad Day Care Centers

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
N Hossein Nazari 1
H Nejat 2
M Saffarian Tosi 2
1 PhD student, Dept of Education Sciences, Mashhad branch, Islamic Azad University, Mashhad, Iran.
2 Assistant Prof, Dept of Education Sciences, Mashhad branch, Islamic Azad University, Mashhad, Iran.
10.22123/chj.2023.324456.1844
Abstract
Introduction: Loneliness and death anxiety are two basic psychological problems experienced by the elderly, and well-being therapy is an intervention that can be effective in this case. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of well-being therapy on loneliness and death anxiety in the elderly.
Materials and Methods: This was applied research conducted as quasi-experimental with pre-test, post-test, and follow-up with a control group.The statistical population of the study included all elderly people aged 65 to 85 years living in Neshat daily nursing home in Mashhad, 30 of whom were randomly divided into an experimental group and a control group. The members of the experimental group participated in the weekly well-being therapy sessions and no intervention was done in the case of the control group. The Russell, Pilau, and Ferguson (1978) Loneliness Scale and the Templer Death Anxiety Scale (1970) were used to collect data. Data analysis was performed using SPSS software version 26 and two-way repeated measures ANOVA.
Results: The findings showed that the comparison of the adjusted means of loneliness and death anxiety scores in the post-test and follow-up stages increased compared to the pre-test stage.The interactive effect of time × group on the loneliness component (p=0.0001, F=124.70) and on the death anxiety component (p=0.0001, F=119.70) was significant at the level of 0.01.
Conclusion: Well-being therapy can significantly reduce feelings of loneliness and death anxiety in the elderly as a non-pharmacological treatment.
Keywords
Well-being Therapy
Loneliness
Death Anxiety
Elderly
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