The effect of Logotherapy group training on changes of depression, self-esteem and intimacy attitudes in physically disabled women

This study was conducted to determine the effects of group training through logotherapy on changing of self-esteem and intimacy attitudes and depression of physically disabled women.

The research was performed in semi-experimental method with two groups (logotherapy and control) with pre-test, post-test and follow up design. The statistical population was 68 people with physically disabilities under care of Kashan welfare center. From this population, 40 physically disabled women (20-40 years old) who had depression above 17 were selected randomly and were divided equally in each groups randomly (n=20). The research instruments were, intimacy attitude Treadwell (1983), Beck depression (1996) and Eysenck’s self esteem (1976) inventories. Before the first group training session, by using questionnaires in both groups, pre-test was conducted. Then 8 sessions of logotherapy, twice a week, each lasting 120 minutes, were administrated to test the group. For both groups, post-test (immediately after training sessions), and follow-up test (one month later) were taken. Analysis of variance with repeated measures was used to analyze data.

The results showed that group training through logotherapy, significantly decreased depression (р ≤0.01), and significantly increased self-esteem and intimacy attitude (р ≤ 0.01) and the sustainability of this effects at follow-up.

The study concluded that training logotherapy can effectively increase intimacy attitude and self-esteem and decrease depression in physically disabled women, and so it implies the importance of paying attention to spiritual training and applying them in welfare centers.