Group narrative therapy in the elderly men; enhancing forgiveness and reducing depression

Efforts to resolving the needs and problems of the elderly is considered as a social necessity due to the increasing growth of the aging population and the multiplicity of their problems. Therefore, the present study aimed to determine the effect of group therapy narration on forgiveness and depression in the elderly. This is a quasi-experimental study method using post-test design with a control group. 30 elderly people were selected and assigned to 2 experimental and control groups (n=15).The experiment group had eight 60-minute sessions of group narrative therapy which took place once a week. the Persian version of the abbreviated mental test (AMT), The Persian version of Heartland Forgiveness Scale and also the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) were used for data gathering. The data were analyzed by SPSS-20 using covariance (ANCOVA). There was a significant difference between the two experimental and control groups in the variables of self forgiveness and other forgiveness and depression after controlling the effect of pretest (P<0.05); But there was no significant difference in the forgiveness of uncontrolled situations. Group therapy narrative is a non-aggressive and adapted to the spirit of the elderly. It could heal the annoyance of the aging period and subsequently reduce depression.