Effectiveness of Mindfulness Therapy based on Islamic-Iranian Approaches on Mental Health and Psychological Resiliency among Air Traffic Controllers of Watchtower

The aim of this research was to investigate the effectiveness of mindfulness therapy based on Islamic-Iranian approaches on mental health and psychological resiliency among air traffic controllers of watchtower.

This study was a quasi-experimental pretest - posttest with control group. The study population was consisted of all air traffic controllers of watchtower who were employed in Mehrabad International Airport in 2020. The sample consisted of 30 (15 for each group) air traffic controllers of watchtower that were selected by as a voluntary and randomly recruits to each of groups. Then, the participants in the experimental group participated in 8 sessions of 90 min of mindfulness therapy based on Islamic-Iranian approaches, while the control group did not receive any therapy. Instruments for gathering data were Goldberg and Hiller Mental Health Questionnaire (1979) and Conner-Davidson Resilience scale (2003). Then, the data were analyzed using SPSS.v21 software and statistical tests such as MANCOVA.

The results of MANCOVA indicate that the mindfulness therapy based on Islamic-Iranian approaches had significant impact on mental health (F=15.632, P=0.001) and psychological resiliency (F=13.828, P=0.001). In other words, mindfulness therapy based on Islamic-Iranian approaches improves mental health and psychological resiliency.

Based on the findings of this study, mindfulness therapy based on Islamic-Iranian approaches improves mental health and psychological resiliency in air traffic controllers of watchtower thus could be used as an effective interventional method. So, it seems that this intervention is an applicable treatment for air traffic controllers of watchtower.