Comparing the effectiveness of cognitive rehabilitation and compassion-based therapy on self-care behaviors of the elderly with mild cognitive impairment

Recognizing the needs and health status of the elderly is one of the important issues of the society, and in order to empower and improve their conditions, new treatment solutions, rehabilitation and effective interventions should be researched. This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of cognitive rehabilitation and compassion-based therapy on self-care behaviors of the elderly with mild cognitive impairment.

The present study was semi-experimental in terms of its purpose, application, and research method, with a pre-test, post-test design with a control group with a three-month follow-up. The statistical population included all elderly people with mild cognitive impairment in Tehran who had visited the health centers of Tehran University of Medical Sciences in 1400. Among them, 42 elderly people were selected based on the inclusion criteria and were randomly divided into two groups of cognitive rehabilitation and compassion-based therapy and a control group. Cognitive rehabilitation and compassion-based therapy were each implemented during 8 sessions of 90 minutes for the experimental groups, and the control group did not receive any training. The research tool was the self-care behavior questionnaire. Data were analyzed using mixed variance analysis in SPSS version 26 software.

The results showed that cognitive rehabilitation and compassion-based therapy were effective on spiritual self-care, social self-care, physical self-care and self-care during illness (P<0.05). The effect of the treatment based on cognitive rehabilitation in physical self-care was more than the group of treatment based on compassion.

Based on the results of the research, the educational packages of this research can be used in nursing homes and nursing homes to improve the level of self-care of the elderly.