نشریه روانشناسی پیری
سال هفتم شماره 3 (پیاپی 26، پاییز 1400)

Aging seems to be a biological process all living beings, including humans, experience. Hence, it is important to pay careful attention to the elderly and to prevent disorders such as meta-cognitive beliefs and alexithymia among the elderly. Therefore, the current study was to consider the effectiveness of compassion-based therapy on meta-cognitive beliefs and alexithymia in the elderly. It was a quasi-experimental study with pretest-posttest and control group design. The statistical population of the study consisted of all the elderly men with alexithymia living in Ahvaz, Iran in 2020. The sample consisted of 30 elderly men (60 to 70 years old) selected by convenience sampling method and according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The experimental group received eight weekly 90-minute sessions of compassion-based therapy. The questionnaires applied in the current study included Toronto Alexithymia Scale and Wells and Cartwright-Hatton’s Meta-Cognitions Scale. Data were analyzed using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) at the confidence level of 0.05. The results showed that there was a significant difference between experimental and control groups in terms of meta-cognitive beliefs and alexithymia in the elderly (p<0.001). Put in other words, compassion-based therapy resulted in a decrease of meta-cognitive beliefs and alexithymia in the elderly. According to the findings of the present study, compassion-based therapy can be suggested as an efficient method in order to reduce meta-cognitive beliefs and alexithymia in the elderly.

Aging causes physical and cognitive impairment, which in turn, interfere with the aged people’s health. As a common complication in the elderly, cognitive impairment has attracted the attention of many specialists. Therefore, the purpose of the current study was to investigate the effectiveness of a period of brain gym exercises on the balance and inhibitory control in the elderly with mild cognitive impairment. This was a quasiexperimental study with pretest-posttest and control group design. The statistical population of this study consisted of all the elderly with mild cognitive impairment living in Urmia, Iran in 2020. The sample included 30 elderly with mild cognitive impairment, aged from 60 to 80 years (77.69±1.98), selected using convenience sampling method and according to the inclusion criteria, and assigned randomly into two groups of experimental and control with 15 members each. To evaluate the balance and inhibitory control in pre-test and post-test, participants were instructed to perform the Mathias et al.’s Timed Up and Go (TUG), and Hoffman’s Go/No Go test. The experimental group were asked to perform three 30-minute sessions of Dennison and Dennison’s brain gym exercises a week for eight weeks. The data were analyzed using the Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) in SPSS-24. The results indicated that after controlling of the pre-test scores, there was a significant difference between the control and experimental groups in terms of Timed Up and Go and inhibitory control (P=0.001). Based on the findings of the current study, due to the ease of implementation of brain gym exercises, they can be used by sports and rehabilitation Coaches in order to improve the balance and inhibitory control of the elderly with cognitive impairment.

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in studying the impact of positive emotions on improving the health of people in the community, especially that of the elderly. The increase of positive emotions seems to be one of suitable coping strategies to contend the effects of the changes in (physical and mental) health of the elderly. Therefore, the purpose of the current research was to evaluate the relationship of savouring beliefs and optimism with subjective happiness through the mediating role of life satisfaction. This was a descriptive study of correlational and structural equations modeling (SEM) type. The study population consisted of the elderly living in Shahrekord and Farsan in 2019-2020, among whom 200 were selected using convenience sampling method. Participants completed Lyubomirsky’s Subjective Happiness Scale, Bryant’s Savoring Beliefs Inventory, Diener’s Satisfaction with Life Scale, Scheier and Carver’s Life Orientation Test. Utilized to analyze the data was the structural equation modeling in SPSS (version 24) and AMOS (version 24) software. The results showed a positive and significant relationship between optimism, life satisfaction and savouring beliefs with happiness (P<0.001). Besides, the indirect effect of savoring beliefs and optimism on happiness through life satisfaction was approved (P<0.001). Therefore, it is suggested that counselors and psychologists working in the field of geriatrics apply measures such as savouring beliefs and optimism in their educational and clinical activities in order to increase subjective happiness of the elderly.

Middle and old age are two of the most important periods in human life, and people in this period face some physical, sexual and mental disabilities. Due to the increasing population of the middle and old age people in Iran, paying attention to this important period seems necessary. Therefore, the present study was to identify the lived experiences of middle and old age married people. To this end, 16 participants (based on the principle of data saturation) were selected by purposive sampling method among the middle and old age people living in Tehran. Participants were interviewed using semi-structured in-depth interviews to identify their lived experiences. Finally, the interviews were analyzed using the Van Mannen method (interpretive phenomenological approach). Findings were divided into two categories: “challenges” and “developmental tasks”. The main themes in the challenges section were “concerns about family’s future”, “spouse relationship”, “individual challenges”, and “taking new roles by spouses”. The main themes obtained in developmental tasks included “developmental tasks focused on children”, and “developmental tasks focused on couples”. As a result, it can be concluded that the challenges and developmental tasks middle and old age people facing appear to be more focused on family and relationship. Applying the results of the present study, experts can design educational packages based on the challenges and developmental tasks these people facing in their lives, in order to increase the quality of life in middle and old age people. Besides, therapists working in the field of the elderly can take advantages of the findings of the present study to lead the process of therapeutic sessions.

One of the problems of the elderly seems to be problems with the quality and quantity of sleep. Sleep is one of the most important health-restoring behaviors, and makes a person feel good. The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of sleep hygiene education on sleep quality and physiological parameters of blood pressure, heart rate and oxygen saturation in the blood of elderly people with insomnia. This was a quasi-experimental study with pretest-posttest and follow-up design with a control group. The study population consisted all the elderly with insomnia in Shiraz in 2019, from which 40 were selected using random sampling method and according to inclusion criteria, and were assigned into experimental and control groups. The elderly with a mean age of 70.48 years with insomnia were assessed by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, Blood Pressure Monitor and Pulse Oximeter. The experimental group underwent the sleep hygiene training based on Spa plan for four weekly 45-minutes sessions, and the control group did not receive any training. Data were analyzed using univariate analysis of covariance in SPSS-23 statistical package. The results showed that sleep hygiene training improved sleep quality, systolic blood pressure and oxygen saturation in the blood of the elderly with insomnia (P<0.05), but it had no effect on diastolic blood pressure and heart rate. It is noteworthy that the effectiveness of sleep hygiene education requires time for affecting the oxygen saturation in the blood in the next three months. The present study showed that insomnia treatment through sleep hygiene education improves sleep quality and physical and mental health of the elderly. Therefore, all officials and stakeholders, especially who works in the field of rehabilitation, are recommended to apply the sleep hygiene education in order to support of the elderly.

The elderly age seems to be a proper time for finding the meaning of life and personal growth compared to other periods of life. The existence of meaning in life of the elderly is an important factor for the continuation of their life and finding meaning in life serve an important role in mental health and quality of life of the elderly. Therefore, this research aimed to investigate the effectiveness of logotherapy on depression and positive psychological characteristics of the elderly living in Isfahan. The research method was semi-experimental with pretest-posttest and follow-up design with a control group. The participants included all the elderly aged above 60 years old living in Isfahan. First, two centers were selected among Retired Teachers Associations and then, 40 participants were selected purposefully based on inclusion and exclusion criteria and were randomly assigned with an equal ratio into the experimental and control groups (20 participants each). The experiment group were exposed to the Logotherapy for 11 90-minute sessions, while control group did not receive any intervention at this time. Measurs consisted of Yasavage et. al’s elderly depression scale and Rashid’s positive psychological characteristics scale. Utilized to analyze of the data was SPSS-23 software. Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) demonstrated that logotherapy has a significant role in improving depression and positive psychological characteristics of the elderly (P<0.05). According to the findings of the current research, logotherapy can be used as an efficient method at counselling and psychotherapy centers in order to creat good feeling in the elderly, in turn leading to the decrease of their inanity feeling and depression.

According to population aging phenomenon all around the world, taking care of the older population is an important mission of the community health system to maintain their quality of life. Thus, it seems important that the experience of a long life is accompanied by desirable quality of life. Therefore, this study aimed to provide a quality of life model based on activity of daily living and social capital with the mediating role of self-care in the elderly. The population of the study included all the elderly aged over 60 living in Tehran in 2020, among whom 243 were selected through convenience sampling. Data were collected using the World Health Organization Short-Form Quality of Life (World Health Organization), Self-Care (Soderhamn), Social capital (Onyx and Bullen) and Activity of daily living (Mahoney and Barthel) questionnaires. Path analysis was used to analyze the causal model in AMOS-24. The results demonstrated that activity of daily living (β=0.547, p>0.01), social capital (β=0.178, p>0.01) and selfe-care (β=0.420, p>0.01) can predict quality of life in the elderly. Moreover, the mediating role of self-care in the relationship between activity of daily living and social capital with quality of life in the elderly was confirmed. According to the results of the present study, it can be said that the promotion of self-care through the health-related training programmes, appears to be an effective step in order to improve the quality of life in the elderly.