Community Health Journal

Community Health Journal

The Effectiveness of Mindfulness Training on Mental Health and Rumination in Anxious Elderly Women

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
E Ziadloo 1
J Asadi 2
L Azizi Ziabari 3
M Jalali 4
1 Ph.D Student in General Psychology, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities, Gorgan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Gorgan, Iran
2 Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Gorgan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Gorgan, Iran
3 Assistant Professor, Department of Nursing, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Gorgan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Gorgan, Iran
4 Assistant Professor, Department of Clinical Psychology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Golestan University, Gorgan, Iran
10.22123/chj.2025.494558.2147
Abstract
Introduction: Aging is a natural process and a period of psychological transformation in the course of life that creates changes in the function and shape of the external and internal organs of the body. The present study was conducted with the aim of determining the effectiveness of mindfulness training on the mental health and rumination of anxious elderly women
Materials and Methods: This study was conducted using a quasi-experimental method and a pretest-posttest research design with a control group. The statistical population included 94 elderly women with anxiety who referred to psychological centers in Gorgan in 2024 (from June to September); from this group, a sample of 30 was selected using purposive sampling and randomly assigned to the intervention group (15 people) and control group (15 people). Data were collected using the Mental Health Questionnaire (Goldberg & Hillier, 1979) and the Rumination Questionnaire (Nolen-Hoeksema et al., 1991). The intervention group underwent a mindfulness training program (Van Son et al., 2011) for 8 sessions, while the control group did not receive any training during this period. Data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of covariance.
Results: In the experimental group, the mean and standard deviation of the mental health score in the pre-test and post-test were 43.42±2.06 and 36.35±1.27, respectively, and the rumination score was 58.57±2.06 and 52.14±1.35, respectively (p˂0.001). In the control group, the mean and standard deviation of the mental health score in the pre-test and post-test were 44.28±2.23 and 43.71±1.81, respectively, and the rumination score was 59.35±2.02 and 58.71±1.72, respectively (p˂0.001).
Conclusion: The findings of the present study showed that using mindfulness training content and instructions is useful in increasing the mental health and reducing rumination in anxious elderly women. Therefore, the use of this training program is recommended.
Keywords
Mindfulness
Mental health
Rumination
Anxious elderly women
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Community Health Journal
Volume 19, Issue 2
Autumn 2025
Pages 33-44