The effectiveness of mindfulness-based stress reduction therapy on resilience and perceived stress of elderly residents in nursing homes

The increase in the elderly population in the country, along with various problems that threaten their physical and mental health, has led to inappropriate emotional reactions and stress-causing factors such as reducing resilience and intensifying stress in the elderly community. The present study was conducted with the aim of determining the effectiveness of mindfulness-based stress reduction therapy on resilience and perceived stress in elderly residents in nursing homes. The present research method was a semi-experimental type with a pre-test-post-test design with a control group. The statistical population of the research included all the elderly living in Kermanshah nursing home in 1402, among which 30 people were randomly selected into two alternatives experimental and control groups with the available sampling method and according to the criteria for entering and exiting the study. Became the content of the therapy sessions was taken from the perspective of Segal et al. (2016). The research participants responded to the Connor and Davidson (2003) resilience questionnaire and the Cohen et al. (1983) perceived stress questionnaire. The data were analyzed using univariate analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) in SPSS-26 software. The results showed that the experimental group was significantly different from the control group in terms of both resilience and perceived stress variables. In other words, stress reduction treatment based on mindfulness improved resilience and reduced perceived stress in the elderly (P<0.05). According to the results of the present study, therapists can use mindfulness-based stress reduction therapy for health-related interventions, especially to improve resilience and reduce perceived stress.