Effectiveness of educational intervention‑based compassion therapy on emotional regulation and self‑control after discharge of patients With COVID‑19

One of the important causes of anxiety in COVID‑19 disease is the inability to regulate emotion and lack of self‑control during threatening conditions. The psychotherapy technique has been effective in reducing these symptoms. Therefore, this study attempted to evaluate the effectiveness of compassion‑based therapy on emotion regulation and self‑control in patients with COVID‑19 after discharge.

It was a quasi‑experimental pretest‑posttest study with a control group. The statistical population consisted of 30 men (15 in each group) who were in the quarantine period of COVID‑19 disease. Available sampling was used and the participants were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. In the experimental group, compassion‑based treatment was performed in 10 sessions of 90 min. Tanji’s self‑control questionnaire and Garnofsky’s Emotion Regulation questionnaires were used. Data analysis were performed using SPSS 21 software and multivariate analysis of covariance.

There was a significant difference between the mean scores of emotion regulation and self‑control variables in the experimental and control groups (P < 0.001). The effect of this treatment on increasing the emotion regulation score was 49% and on increasing the self‑control score was 37%.

Compassion‑based therapy can increase cognitive regulation and improve self‑control in patients with COVID‑19 disease. It is suggested that this intervention can be used in psychological treatment programs.