نشریه روانشناسی پیری
سال ششم شماره 1 (پیاپی 20، بهار 1399)

Elderly with no self-care behaviors suffer from many physical and psychological problems and self-care training can help them. Therefore, present research aimed to determine the effectiveness of self-care training on quality of life, self-care behaviors and blood sugar in elderly lacking self-care behaviors. This was a quasi-experimental study with pretest-posttest design and control group. The research population included diabetic elderly men who had records in health care centers of Mashhad city, 2019 year. Reviewing inclusion criteria, 54 samples were selected through objective sampling method and were randomly divided to two groups. Experimental group were trained on self-care training by Mahdi and et al. in 6 sessions of 60-minutes; however, the control group didn’t receive training. Data were collected using LEIPAD elderly quality of life questionnaire, Toobert et al. revised scale for self-care behaviors among elderly and blood sugar tests, which were analyzed by univariate analysis of covariance in SPSS version 19. The results showed no significant difference in terms of quality of life, self-care behaviors and blood sugar in experiment and control groups pretests (P>0/05); though, in posttests, there were significant differences in terms of all three variables (P<0/05). In other words, self-care training led to an increase in quality of life and self-care behaviors while decreased blood sugar in elderly (P<0/05). According to the results, it was recommended that health professionals and therapists use self-care training method along with other training and therapeutic methods to improve quality of life and self-care and reduce blood sugar especially in elderly with no self-care behaviors.

Aging is a biological process that all living things, including humans, experience; therefore, it is important to pay special attention to it and prevent disorders such as anxiety among elderly. Death and the anxiety related to it are inevitable in old age which weaken compatibility in elderly due to the ambiguity caused. In this regard, the present study aimed to determine the effectiveness of compassion-based therapy on tolerance of ambiguity and death anxiety of elderly. It was a quasi-experimental study with pretest, posttest and control group design. The statistical population of the study included all elderly living in Khoram Abad nursing homes in 2019. The participants consisted of 30 elderlies (16 males and 14 females, M=64.06, SD=6.5) who were selected through available sampling according to inclusion criteria. The experimental group received eight ninety-minute sessions during two months, while the control group didn’t receive any intervention during the study. The applied questionnaires in the study included Ambiguity Tolerance Scale (McLain, 2009), and Fear of Death Scale (Collet–Lester, 1969). Data were analyzed using univariate analysis of covariance. The findings suggested a significant difference between the experimental and control groups in terms of their abilities to tolerate ambiguity and death anxiety. In other words, compassion-based therapy increased the patient's ability to tolerate ambiguity and reduce anxiety about death (P<0.001). According to the findings of the present study, compassion-focused therapy can be suggested as an efficient method in order to increase ambiguity tolerance and decrease death anxiety in the elderly.

Since the elderly are mostly exposed to sleep problems due to old age, this study aimed to predict the quality of sleep in elderly based on psychological hardiness and happiness variables. It was a descriptive-correlational study. To do this, a sample of 120 people was selected among all non-resident elderly people in Kermanshah elderly Homes in 2018 using convenience sampling method. The research instruments included Haddad et al. psychological hardiness questionnaire, oxford happiness questionnaire and Pittsburgh sleep quality questionnaire.The collected data were analyzed by SPSS software version 22 using Pearson correlation and regression analysis. The results suggested correlation coefficients of 0.44, 0.47 and 0.38 between the components of psychological hardiness (control, commitment and challenge) and sleep quality, respectively. Also, there was a correlation of 0.56 between happiness and sleep quality (P<0.001). Therefore, it can be said that psychological hardiness and happiness can predict %49 of the quality of sleep in the elderly. Considering the results, it was suggested that health professionals, especially those associated with the elderly, could pay a particular attention to the important role of such variables as happiness.

Elderly is the last period of life in which people are at higher risks of intrapersonal, interpersonal, and environmental damages compared to other lifelong periods. The present study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of mindfulness model on improving intimate attitudes and depression in the elderly in 2019.It was a quasi-experimental study with pretest, post-test and control group. The statistical population of this study included all the elderly living in Tehran in 2019. Thirty people were selected by convenience sampling method along with entrance criteria to the study and were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. Then, the intervention (Mindfulness Model) was implemented on the experimental group during eight 90-minute sessions. Data collection tools in this study were the Intimate Attitude Systems (IAS) and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-13). Finally, the collected data were analyzed by SPSS software in two levels of descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (analysis of covariance).The findings of the present study showed the effective role of mindfulness model in improving intimate attitudes and decreasing depression severity (P<0.05).According to the results of the present study, it can be concluded that this educational model can be used as an effective model in counseling and psychotherapy centers (especially active centers in the elderly homes) to improve the elderly intimate attitudes and decrease their severity of depression.

The psychological characteristics of the elderly decline due to reduction of physical and mental functioning. Therefore, intervention seems to be essential specifically in elderly women suffered from moderate depression, with the aim of improving psychological health, self-efficacy and happiness. Therefore, the study aimed to determine the effectiveness of stress management training (SMT) on psychological health, self-efficacy and happiness in elderly women with moderate depression. The current study was a quasi-experimental with pretest-posttest and control group design. The statistical population included elderly women with depression residing in nursing homes of Tehran, Iran in 2019, among whom 60 women were selected through purposive sampling and inclusion criteria and allocated randomly into two equal groups. The experimental group received ten 90-minute sessions of SMT and the control group didn’t receive any training at the same time. Research tool included Najarian & Davodi’s psychological health scale, Sherer & et al.’s self-efficacy questionnaire, Argyle & Lu’s happiness questionnaire and Yesavage & Sheikh’s geriatric depression. Data were analyzed using univariate analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) in the SPSS-22 software. Results indicated that there was a significant difference between experimental and control groups in terms of psychological health, self-efficacy and happiness in posttest phase. In other words, SMT resulted in improvement of psychological health, self-efficacy and happiness in elderly women with depression (P<0.01). Given the effectiveness of SMT, it is recommended that health professionals and therapists take advantages of STM along with other training methods in order to improve the elderly’s psychological health, self-efficacy and happiness.

Given the increasing population of elderly in different societies, it is important to pay attention to their basic needs and their physical, mental health and quality of life. Therefore, the present study aimed to determine the causal model of quality of life of the elderly based on anxiety sensitivity through the mediating role of experiential avoidance. It was a descriptive and structural equations study. The statistical population of this study included all elderly people living in nursing homes in Ardabil, among which two homes, Mandegaran and Atta, were randomly selected, and 150 elderlies were selected using convenience sampling. World Health Organization quality of life questionnaire, Reiss and Peterson anxiety sensitivity questionnaire, acceptance and action questionnaire of Hayes et al. were used to collect data. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling using SPSS 23 and Lisrel 8.8. Based on the results, the causal model confirmed the relationship between anxiety sensitivity, experiential avoidance and life quality of elderly based on different fit indices. Anxiety sensitivity and experiential avoidance showed a direct influence on quality of life of the elderly; also, anxiety sensitivity indirectly effected on life quality of the elderly through experiential avoidance (P<0.05). Therefore, anxiety sensitivity and experiential avoidance play an important role in life quality of the elderly and targeting these two components by psychological therapies could be effective in enhancing life quality of the elderly.

Cognitive change as a normal process of aging has been well documented in the scientific literature. Some cognitive abilities, such as reasoning, memory, and processing speed, gradually decline over time. The present study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of rehabilitation of cognitive-metacognitive strategies on the functions of the dorsolateral frontal lobe in elderly. it was a quasi-experimental study with pretest and posttest with control group. The statistical population of the study included all elderly men living in Bukan nursing homes in 2019. Among these people, 30 elderlies (two groups of 15) were selected through convenience sampling method and based on inclusion criteria. They were randomly assigned into experimental and control groups. The required data were collected using Stroop and continuous performance tests. The data obtained were analyzed using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) with respect to its assumptions. The findings showed that rehabilitation of cognitive-metacognitive strategies had a significant and positive effect on the functions of the dorsolateral frontal lobe (P<0.001). The results of this study also reported that rehabilitation method of cognitive-metacognitive strategies can improve dorsolateral frontal lobe functions, including information processing speed and sustained attention and it is suggested that rehabilitation method of cognitive-metacognitive strategies be used to improve and enhance the cognitive functions of the elderly.