The Effect of Group Hope Therapy on the Quality of Life of Elderly Women with Type 2 Diabetes

Aging is a physiological process, but during this period, with the passage of time and the influence of environmental factors and unhealthy lifestyles, the prevalence of diseases, especially chronic diseases, increases. One of these chronic diseases is diabetes. It has negative effects on their physical and mental health and as a result, reduces their quality of life. A relatively new issue that is raised today regarding the quality of life is hope. Because hope can ease the process of facing life's adversities and improve the quality of life. Hope therapy is based on the hope theory of Schneider and colleagues and is based on a positive psychology approach. This study aimed to determine the effect of group hope therapy on the quality of life of elderly women with diabetes.

The study was designed experimentally with a before and after design in two control and intervention groups. Eligible elderly women with diabetes were selected from the diabetes clinic of Imam Khomeini Medical Education Center in Sari and were randomly assigned to intervention (20 people) and control (20 people) groups. The group hopes therapy training was conducted in 8 sessions twice a week for 90 minutes. The quality-of-life questionnaire of Thomas diabetic patients (DQOL) of two groups was measured before, immediately, and one month after the intervention. Data analysis was done using the Mann-Whitney, Friedman, Wilcoxon test and SPSS software version 16 and P<0.05.

The level of high quality of life increased from 35% to 50% in the control group and from 45% to 100% in the intervention group. The comparison of the average quality of life in the pre-intervention phase in the two intervention and control groups did not show a statistically significant difference (P=0.472). Comparison of the average quality of life immediately after the intervention in the two intervention groups (59.55±2.84) and control (45.90±3.69) and one month after the intervention in the two intervention groups (60.00±2.714) and the control (45.75±3.75) showed a statistically significant difference (P=0.001). Based on the results of the present study, the average quality of life of the control group was lower than the intervention group at the end of the intervention and one month after the intervention.

The results of the research showed that group hope therapy is effective in improving the quality of life of elderly women with type 2 diabetes. Elderly women with diabetes learned that they can find the meaning of life even in the suffering and pain caused by the disease. The concept of hope in people causes their perspective to widen from the current difficult and suffering conditions. Increasing hope leads to happiness, peace, adaptation to the current situation, increased energy, meaningfulness, and success in life. As a result, group hope therapy can be implemented to increase the quality of life in the daily care programs of the elderly, especially women.