JOURNAL OF AGING PSYCHOLOGY
Year:2021 | Volume: | Issue: |Papers Count:7

According to the ever-increasing trend of the elderly population in Iran, addressing issues related to this group of the society appears to be of great importance. In this regard, the purpose of the present study was to consider the mediating role of emotional regulation in the relationship between emotional schema and pain perception in the elderly. The statistical population of the current study included all the elderly members of the centers for aging in Shiraz, Iran, among whom 251 (104 male, 147 female) who suffer from pain at least in one area of their body, were selected using convenience sampling. Data were gathered using Leahy’, s Emotional Schema Scale (LESS), Gratz and Roemer’, s Difficulties in Emotional Regulation Scale (DERS) as well as the McGill’, s Pain Questionnaire (MPQ), and were analyzed by Structural Equations Modeling in SPSS-24 and LISREL-10. 20 software. The results of Structural Equations Modeling indicated that the extracted model has a good fit with the empirical data. Moreover, results revealed that using limited emotional regulation strategies is able to mediating the relationship between emotional schemas of consensus, rumination, expression and numbness with pain perception in the elderly. Therefore, according to the role that emotional schemas and difficulties in emotional regulation can paly in predicting the pain perception in elderly, paying attention to these factors in preparing education and therapeutic intervention seems crucial.

The successful elderly seems to be one of the main concepts in gerontology. The elderly is a biological process experienced by all living beings, including humans. The quality of life may affect the elderly’, s health. Accordingly, the current study was to determine the effectiveness of self-healing training on the quality of life among the elderly in 2020. The method of the present study was quasi-experimental with pretest-posttest and follow-up design with a control group. The statistical population included all women living in a nursing homes in Isfahan, Iran, among whom 40 were selected using convenience sampling and according to the inclusion criteria, by a public call in the mentioned boarding nursing homes, and assigned randomely into two groups (20 members each). The measure applied in the present study was Ware and Sherbourne’, s quality of life questionnaire. Latifi and Marvi’, s self-healing training was performed for the experimental group during twelve 60-minute sessions. Data were analyzed by univariate analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) by using SPSS-24 software. The results demonstrated that self-healing training had positive effects on the components of quality of life (including physical function, role limitation due to physical reasons, energy and vitality, emotional well-being, physical pain and general health) in the experimental group compared to the control group significantly in the post-test (p<0. 05) and these effects had remained significantly constant in the follow-up phase (p<0. 05). However, there was found no significant difference in the other components of quality of life (including limitation of role playing due to emotional reasons and social functioning), both in the posttest and follow-up stages (p>0. 05). According to the results of the present study, it can be mentioned that the self-healing approach improves the quality of life and increases the elderly’, s general health by reducing the physiological stress through methods of treating destructive cellular memories, improving lifestyle and teaching relaxation techniques.

The growing trend of aging phenomenon poses the need to pay attention to the issues of the elderly as a social necessity. The decrease of the life expectancy and psychological hardiness can cause difficulties in the elderly. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of group reminiscence on psychological hardiness and life expectancy of the elderly in Tehran, Iran. This was a quasi-experimental study with pretest-posttest design with a control group. The statistical papulation included all the elderly residing in nursing homes in Tehran among which Kahrizak nursing home was selected using convenience sampling method. Thirty elderly were selected according to the inclusion criteria of the study and assigned randomly into experimental (n=15) and control (n=15) groups. The experimental group received eight 2-hour weekly sessions of reminiscence intervention and the control group remained on the waiting list. Cliff’, s Mental Strength and Miller's life expectancy Questionnaires were applied to collect data. The results of Univariate Covariance Analysis (ANCOVA) indicated that the reminiscence has a significant effect on psychological Hardiness and its components including challenge, life control, self-confidence, interpersonal trust (P<0. 05) and has no significant effect on commitment and emotional control components (P<0. 05). Moreover, the significant effect of the intervention on life expectancy was confirmed (P<0. 05). The findings of this study illustrate the effectiveness of group reminiscence intervention in the elderly. Therefore, it is recommended that psychologists and therapists take advantages of this method in order to improve the psychological problems of the elderly.

The elderly need proper medical and psychiatric care and attention. So, choosing an appropriate therapeutic method for their psychological care, especially in the elderly with cognitive impairment, will be effective in improving their psychological symptoms and health. Therefore, this study aimed to compare the effectiveness of humor therapy and cognitive rehabilitation on agitation and apathy in male elders with mild cognitive impairment. It was a quasi-experimental study with pretestposttest design with a control group. The statistical population included all male elderly with mild cognitive impairment residing of nursing homes in Alborz province, Iran. At first, Kahrizak Charity Hospice was selected by purposeful sampling method, and then 51 elderly people were selected based on inclusion criteria, and assigned randomly into two experimental groups (humor and cognitive rehabilitation) and one control group. Cohen-Mansfield’, s Agitation Inventory, Apathy’, s Evaluation Scale and Montreal’, s Cognitive Assessment-Basic were used to collect data. The two intervention groups received eight 90-minute sessions of Humor therapy based on the Mcghee’, s 7 Humor Habits Program and Kelly and O’, Sullivan’, s Cognitive Rehabilitation, and the control group did not receive any intervention during this period. The results of univariate analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) revealed that humor therapy reduces agitation and apathy. Moreover, cognitive rehabilitation reduced agitation and apathy. Meanwhile, there was no significant difference between humor therapy and cognitive rehabilitation in terms of reducing agitation and apathy. According to the effectiveness of humor therapy and cognitive rehabilitation in reducing agitation and apathy in this study, these interventions can be applied to improve psychological symptoms, personal functioning and interpersonal relationships in the elderly with mild cognitive impairment.

According to the ever-increasing number of the elderly in Iranian society, paying attention to improving the quality of life of this group is of particular importance. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between attachment styles with self-coherence and generativity through the mediating role of the basic psychological needs in Iranian elderly. The research method was descriptive-correlational of path analysis type. The statistical population included all the elderly living in Tehran, Iran, among whom 170 were selected using convenience sampling method. The research instruments included the Loyola’, s Creativity, Antonovsky's psychological coherence, Collins and Reed’, s attachment styles, and the Desi and Ryan’, s basic psychological needs questionnaires. The results showed that the hypothesized model has a good fit in the study sample. The results showed that secure attachment style has a positive relationship with all three needs of autonomy, competence and relatedness. Avoidant attachment style had a negative significant relationship with competence, and ambivalent attachment style had a negative significant relationship with the autonomy and competence needs as well as self-coherence. In addition, there was a positive significant relationship between the needs of autonomy and competence with generativity. Finally, the autonomy need plays a mediating role in the relationship between secure and ambivalent attachment styles with generativity, and the competence need plays a mediating role in the relationship between all three styles of attachment with generativity. Consequently, given the importance of attachment styles and basic psychological needs, psychologists can take a step forward to increase the quality of life of the elderly through relying on these two variables and trying to improve them in the elderly and performing interventions and treatments for them.

The current study aims to investigate the relationship between attachment styles with positive and negative affect through the mediating role of reminiscence styles in the elderly. This was a correlational study of structural equations modeling (SEM) type. The statistical population included all the elderly aged at least 60 years living in Hamedan province, Iran, among whom 400 (210 men and 190 women) were selected using convenience sampling method. Participants filled out the Collins’, s Adult Attachment Styles, Oxford Happiness, and Amani et al. ’, s Reminiscence Styles questionnaires. The results of SEM revealed that the hypothetical model of this study has a good fit in the study sample. As such, secure attachment style had a positive direct relationship with positive reminiscence (PR), and a negative direct relationship with negative reminiscence (NR). Avoidant and ambivalent attachment styles had only a positive direct relationship with NR. In addition, PR had a positive and negative direct relationship with positive and negative affect, respectively, and NR had a negative and positive direct relationship with positive and negative emotions, respectively. Secure attachment style also indicated an indirect relationship with positive and negative affect through both positive and NR. However, avoidant and ambivalent attachment styles were indirectly related to positive and negative affect only through NR. The findings emphasize the significance of the development of internal working models based on the kind of parent-child’, s reminiscences and narratives, and the lifelong effects of these models.