The effectiveness of psychological care program in reducing the severity of symptoms of depression problems in the elderly

Depression is one of the most common psychological symptoms in the elderly. The present study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of psychological care program in reducing depression in the elderly. The present study is fundamental-applied research in terms of aim and is considered as quasi-experimental research. The population of the study consisted of all elderly with depression symptoms living in nursing homes in Tehran. The sample was purposefully selected to be 30 people. They were divided into two groups of experimental and control (15 people in each group). The instruments used in this study were the Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI-II) and the Elderly Psychological Care Program. First, all the participants in the experimental and control groups completed the BDI-II, and then the educational intervention was implemented by the intervener on the experimental group during seven sessions based on the elderly psychological care program, and the control group did not receive any intervention. In the posttest phase, both experimental and control groups were tested again through BDI-II. The results of one-way analysis of covariance showed that seven-session training of psychological care program was significantly effective in reducing depression in the elderly. Psychological care program creates new behaviors by activating all cognitive, physical and emotional components of neural pathways and by teaching the skills, it provides a framework for understanding emotional experiences. Also, it reduces depression in the elderly and increases their quality of life by increasing motivation to participate and change.