JOURNAL OF AGING PSYCHOLOGY
Year:2020 | Volume:6 | Issue:1|Papers Count:4

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.

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.