نشریه روانشناسی پیری
سال هشتم شماره 3 (پیاپی 30، پاییز 1401)

Elderly appears to be a sensitive period of human life, which causes people to experience psychological distress and lower quality of life, through creating many challenges. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the effectiveness of transcranial direct-current stimulation on psychological distress and quality of Life in the elderly. The research method was quasi-experimental with pretest-posttest control group design. The population includes all the elderly who referred to counseling centers in Tehran in 2019, among whom 30 were selected using convenience sampling and according to the including and excluding criteria, and randomly assigned into experimental and control groups equally. In order to measure the variables, Mason et al.’s psychological distress questionnaire as well as Ware and Sherbourne’s quality of life questionnaire were used. The participants of the experimental group underwent transcranial direct-current stimulation for ten 120-minute sessions. The data were analyzed using univariate covariance analysis (ANCOVA). The findings showed that after controlling the effect of the pre-test, there was a significant difference between the mean score of the experimental and control groups in terms of psychological distress and the components of quality of life including social functioning, physical role playing, emotional role playing, mental health and vitality in post-test. However, no significant difference was observed in the components of physical performance, physical pain and general health. In general, according to the results of this research, transcranial direct-current stimulation can be applied as a method to reduce psychological distress and to improve the elderly’s quality of life, along with other treatment methods.

The elderly are valuable sources of experience and knowledge whose quality of life need to be improved. through scientific manners. Therefore, this study aims to compare the effectiveness of healthy elderly training model and spirituality-based existential therapy on affective capital components of the elderly. It was a quasi-experimental study with pretest-posttest design with a control group. The statistical population included all the elderly living in elderly care centers in Isfahan, Iran in the spring of 2022. The sample was made up of 58 elderly selected based on inclusion criteria by purposeful sampling method, and randomly assigned into two experimental groups of spirituality-based existential therapy (n=20) and healthy aging training (n=18), and one control group (n=20). Golparvar’s affective capital questionnaire (GACQ) was applied to collect data. Each of the healthy elderly training model and spirituality-based existential therapy underwent twelve 90-minute sessions of intervention. Data were analyzed using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) in SPSS-26 software. The results revealed that after control of pretest, there was a significant difference between the groups in terms of positive affect (F=5.85; P=0.005), feeling of energy (F=4.30; P=0.02) and happiness (F=8.91; P=0.001). The comparison of the groups revealed that only healthy elderly training model was effective in increasing the components of affective capital. The effectiveness of healthy elderly training model on increasing affective capital components was confirmed in the present study. Therefore, this geriatric training can be used to help the elderly in elderly care centers.

The coronavirus disease, as an emerging disease with global spread and high mortality rates among vulnerable groups, in addition to physical symptoms, has led to the occurrence of many psychological disorders such as death anxiety and feeling of loneliness due to the fear of infection. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of group logotherapy and solution-oriented therapy on anxiety and feeling of loneliness in the elderly with the fear of coronavirus. The research method was quasi-experimental with pretest-posttest and a control group design. The statistical population consisted of the elderly women who took part in the daily rehabilitation centers of the Welfare Institution (Sazman-e Behzisti), in Tabriz, among whom 36 eligible individuals were selected and randomly assigned into two experimental and one control groups. measuers applied in the current study incuded Templer’s Death Anxiety Scale and Russell et al.’s UCLA Loneliness Scale. The experimental groups underwent ten 90-minute therapy sessions, separately and with two different approaches, while the control group did not receive any intervention at the same time. The data were analysed using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) in SPSS-24 software. The results indicated that logotherapy and Solution-oriented therapy have a significant effect on reducing death anxiety and feeling of loneliness (P<0.05). Although, there was no significant difference between two experimental groups in reducing death anxiety (P>0.05), there was a significant difference between the two experimental groups in reducing loneliness, in a way that the effectiveness of logotherapy was greater (P<0.05). According to the results, logotherapy and solution-oriented therapy can be applied to improve the death anxiety and feeling of loneliness among elderly women with fear of coronavirus. The results indicated that logotherapy and Solution-oriented therapy had a significant effect on reducing death anxiety and feeling of loneliness compared to the control group (P< 0/05). However, there was no significant difference between two experimental groups regarding death anxiety (P> 0/05). In addition, there was a significant difference between the two experimental groups regarding loneliness (P< 0/05), and the effectiveness of logotherapy was greater. According to the results, logotherapy and Solution oriented therapy can be applied to improve the death anxiety and feeling of loneliness among elderly women with fear of coronavirus.

Nowadays, due to the increasing rate of elderly populaion in Iran, it seems necessary to maintain and improve the health and the quality of life (QOL) of them as a vulnerable demographic group. Recent studies have revealed that spiritual health, social support, resilience, and hope may improve QOL in the elderly. Therefore, this study aims to determine the model of QOL based on spiritual health and social support through the mediating role of resilience and hope in the elderly. The study population included all the elderly living in villages of qazvin province, Iran, among whom 300 were selected using convenience sampling method. The measures applied in the current study consisted of Paloutzian and Ellison’s spiritual health, Vaux’s social support, Connor & Davidson’s resilience, Snyder’s hope and the World Health Organization QOL questionnaires. Path analysis was used to analyze the causal model. The results indicated the fit of the model with the data. The results also demonstrated a direct and significant effect between spiritual health (β=0.15, P<0.05), social support (β=0.21, P<0.05), hope (β=0.35, P<0.05) and resilience (β=0.25, P<0.05) with QOL. Moreover, the analysis of the role of multiple mediators using Preacher and Hayes’s approach confirmed the mediating role of resilience and hope in the relationship between spiritual health and social support with QOL. The results contribute to the theoretical knowledge regarding how social support and spiritual health affect QOL in the elderly. The findings showed that social support and spiritual health have the power to predict the QOL through hope and resilience among the elderly. All the four predictive variables can be improved and can be used in QOL-related interventions in the rural elderly.

Cognitive ageing is associated with disruption in higher-level executive functions, because it can impair the abilities needed to perform these functions. One of the common cognitive impairments among the elderly is the mild cognitive impairment (MCI), characterized by a higher than normal level of cognitive decline. Therefore, the current study aims to investigate the ‎the effectiveness of gaze stability exercises on balance and executive functions in the elderly suffering from MCI. This was a quasi-experimental study with pretest-posttest-control group design. The statistical population of this study consisted of all the elderly with MCI living in Urmia in 2020. The sample included 30 elderly aged 60 to 80 years with MCI, who were selected using convenience randomly and based on the inclusion criteria and assigned randomly into two groups of experimental (mean age: ‌78/466±1/552 years) and control (mean age:76/93±2.404 years) with 15 memebers in each group. Participants of both groups performed Mathias et al’s Timed Up and Go (TUG), Hoffman’s Go/NoGo test and Kirchner’s N-Back Test for their balance, inhibitory control and working memory to be evaluated in pre-test and post-test. ‎The experimental group performed Morimoto et al.’s gaze stabilization exercises in three 60-minute sessions a week for eight weeks. The data were analyzed using the Analyze of Covariance (ANCOVA) in SPSS-24 software. The results indicated that after controlling the pretest scores, there was a statistically significant difference in TUG, behavioral inhibition control and working memory ‌between the control and experimental groups (p=0.001). Therefore, performing these exercises can be an effective strategy to improve balance and executive functioning abilities in the elderly suffering from MCI.

Aging is one of the highly important stages of human life, during which people face a wide range of physiological and psychological changes. During these changes, issues such as mental health, loneliness and life satisfaction appears to be crucial. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between mental health and feeling of loneliness with life satisfaction in the elderly of Ahvaz. The research design was correlational. The statistical population of the study included all people over 60 years old living in Ahvaz, Iran, among whom 400 were selected using convenience sampling method. The tools applied in this research included Goldberg's mental health questionnaire and Russell et al.’s loneliness, and Diener et al.’s life satisfaction questionnaires. The collected data were analyzed using the statistical methods of Pearson’s correlation coefficient and stepwise regression. The findings indicated that mental health disorders (r=-0.17) and loneliness (r=-0.14) have a significant negative relationship with life satisfaction in the elderly (P0.01). Besides, mental health disorders and feeling of loneliness could significantly predict 4% of the changes in life satisfaction in the elderly, and the share of mental health disorders was more than that of feeling of loneliness. According to the above-mentioned results stating that the feeling of loneliness and mental health are related to life satisfaction, it seems necessary to strengthen the communication network of the elderly through their more participation and activity in their warm hearth and local centers in order to reduce the feeling of loneliness among them. It is also suggested that counselors and psychologists working in the field of elderly, should take steps to increase mental health and cosecuently increase the level of the eldery’s life satisfaction.

Conducting research in the field of the elderly, who will form the majority of the population of Iran in the coming years, and identifying the various dimensions of their problems and difficulties in order to perform more efficient interventions, are of particular importance. Due to the fact that the elderly considers their death close, the anxiety of death and its vagueness may unconsciously affect various aspects of their life, including the quality of their sleep. Therefore, the current research aims to predict death anxiety and sleep quality of the elderly based on the mindfulness and tolerance of ambiguity. This was a descriptive study, of correlational type. The statistical population included all people over 65 years of age living in the nursing homes of Tehran, Iran in 2022 (around 1120 people), among whom 200 people from Asman Niavaran (area 1) and Kahrizak (area 20) centers were selected using convenience sampling method. In order to collect data, Bauer et al.’s five-factor mindfulness, McLean’s tolerance of ambiguity, Cult-Lester’s death anxiety and Petersburg’s sleep quality questionnaires were used. Data was analyzed using Pearson’s correlation coefficient and multivariate regression analysis. The findings illustrated that mindfulness and tolerance of ambiguity were able to predict death anxiety and sleep quality in the elderly (P<0.05). Mindfulness was correlated to sleep quality and death anxiety. Besides, there was a significant negative relationship between tolerance of ambiguity with death anxiety and sleep quality. Based on the findings of the current study, trying to increase the mindfulness and tolerance of ambiguity as an intervention related to mental health is recommended to reduce death anxiety and increase the sleep quality of the elderly.