The Comparison of the Effectiveness of Metacognitive Therapy and Emotion Efficacy Therapy on Depression and Self-Care in Non-Clinical Depressed Elderly

The elderly are exposed to psychological and social harms due to various physical, occupational, and social limitations and the symptoms of depression are common during this period that can increase their vulnerability. Consequently, The aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of metacognitive therapy and emotion efficacy therapy on the level of depression and self-care ability in non-clinical depressed elderly. The design of the present study was quasi-experimental with pretest-posttest and control group. The statistical population included all the elderly with depressive symptoms who were members of Jahangidegan House of Sari, Iran in 2019, Among whom, 45 were selected using purposive sampling method as well as inclusion criteria and assigned randomly into two experimental and one control group (15 people in each group). The experimental groups underwent eight 90-minute metacognitive therapy and emotion efficacy therapy. Data collection tools included Geriatric Depression Scale (Yesavage et al.) and the Elderly Self-Care Questionnaire (Hemati maslak pak & Hashemloo). Data were analyzed using analysis of covariance in SPSS-21 software. The results showed that metacognitive therapy and emotion efficacy therapy are effective in improving depressive symptoms and self-care ability of non-clinical depressed elderly (P <0.05), but there is no significant difference between the effectiveness of these two treatments. According to the results of this study, metacognitive therapy and emotion efficacy therapy can be effective interventions in improving depressive symptoms and strengthening self-care ability in the depressed elderly.