Effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Compassion - Therapy on Affective Capital in Elderly Women

This study was conducted to determine compassion therapy based on mindfulness of affective capital in elderly women. The current research is of an applied type, which was conducted semi-experimental with a pre-test, post-test, follow-up, and control group in 2019. The statistical population included all elderly women 60 to 75 in Tehran (mean age: 64.74). Among the statistical population, 36 elderly women were invited to participate in this research using the available sampling with the necessary criteria. Among the recruited people, 36 agreed and were randomly and equally placed in two experimental and control groups. Due to the exclusion of sample people during the research (such as lack of interest in continuing participation), 32 elderly women were included until the end of the study. The intervention group received mindfulness-based compassion therapy for eight weeks and one weekly session. Meanwhile, the control group did not receive any intervention. Elderly women completed the affective capital questionnaire to evaluate the dependent variable in the pre-test, post-test, and intervention follow-up periods. Levene's test, Mauchly's sphericity test, Bonferroni Test, and Repeated Measures Analysis of Variance were used to analyze the data. The results showed that the mean of affective capital of the intervention group improved after mindfulness training. Also, the mean of affective capital between the intervention and control groups was significantly different (p<0.05). This intervention showed new horizons in psychological interventions and can also be used to improve affective capital of elderly women.