Comparing the Effectiveness of “Mindfulness Therapy Based on Stress Reduction” and “Narrative Therapy” on Death Anxiety in the Elderly

One of the common psychological problems of old age is anxiety, and one of the types of anxiety that the elderly face is death anxiety. The purpose of the present study was to compare the effectiveness of “Mindfulness Therapy Based on Stress Reduction” and “Narrative Therapy” on the death anxiety of the elderly.

The research method was semi-experimental with a pre-test-post-test-follow-up design and a control group. The statistical population of this research was made up of elderly people who referred to health centers in Tehran in 2019 and 2014, who had health records in these centers. Among them, 45 people were selected by convenience sampling method and randomly assigned to 2 intervention groups and 1 control group. Research instruments included demographic questionnaire and "Templer Death Anxiety Scale". Content validity of the instrument was measured by qualitative method and reliability by internal consistency method by calculating Cronbach's alpha coefficient. After conducting 8 sessions of “Mindfulness Therapy Based on Stress Reduction" and 9 sessions of “Narrative Therapy” for the intervention groups, the data were analyzed in SPSS. 24.

“Mindfulness Therapy Based on Stress Reduction” and “Narrative Therapy” were effective on death anxiety in the intervention groups (P=0.043). The effect of time on death anxiety (P=0.001) was effective compared to the pre-test stage. The interaction effect of time*groups was effective on death anxiety (P=0.001) compared to the control group. In the post-test stage, the difference in the average death anxiety of the group “Mindfulness Therapy Based on Stress Reduction” and “Narrative Therapy” and control (P<0.05) and “Narrative Therapy” and control (P<0.05) was significant, but the difference of “Mindfulness Therapy Based on Stress Reduction” and “Narrative Therapy” and “Narrative Therapy” (P<0.05) was not significant.

"Mindfulness Therapy Based on Stress Reduction" and "Narrative Therapy" were effective on death anxiety of the elderly. It is suggested that in order to reduce the death anxiety of the elderly, the above therapy should be conducted along with pharmaceutical treatments.