The effectiveness of positive psychology of happiness and hopefulness of elderly people in elderly care centers

Hopefulness and happiness can affect the quality of life of people, especially the elderly. Since positivist psychology creates a wide range of strategies to increase happiness, hopefulness, and other positive emotions, so considering the importance of aging and the psychological issues of the elderly, the aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of positive psychology of happiness and hopefulness of elderly people in elderly care centers.

This study was an experimental study in which the study population consisted of all the elderly people in elderly care centers. Among the elderly care centers in Shiraz, 60 people were selected by cluster random sampling and replaced in two experimental (30) and control (30) groups. The experimental group received 8 sessions of 120 minutes for 2 months based on positive psychology training and the control group did not receive any training during this period. The Oxford Happiness and Schnyder Hope Questionnaire was used to collect data. After the meetings, post-test and follow-up were performed 1 month later. For data analysis, SPSS version 21 was used. 

The results showed that the mean and standard deviation of happiness and hopefulness respectively (33.43±4.36) - (42.93 ±3.12), (46.36 ± 3.78) - (51.66 ± 1.98) there was a statistically significant difference in the experimental group before and after the study (P <0.05). However, no significant change was observed in the control group. Also, the comparison of the mean and standard deviation of happiness and hopefulness between the two groups of test and control after the study and follow-up had a statistically significant difference (P <0.05).

Findings of this study showed that positive psychology can promote happiness and hopefuness in the elderly.