The effectiveness of group logo therapy on death anxiety, feeling of loneliness and meaning of life in the elderly women with fear of coronavirus

ABSTRACT

It was late 2019 when a new virus from the Coronavirus family with the ability of spreading in humans was identified in China for the first time. The speed of the global pandemic of this virous and the release of news regarding its greater risks for the elderly led to numerous psychological disorders in this age group. Therefore, the present study was to consider the effectiveness of group logotherapy on death anxiety, feeling of loneliness and meaning of life in the elderly with fear of Coronavirus. This was a quasi-experimental with pretest-posttest and a control group design. The statistical population consisted of all the elderly women (65 years old and higher) who were member of the daily rehabilitation services working under supervision of Tabriz Welfare Organization in 2021, among whom 24 eligible women were selected based on inclusion criteria, and randomly assigned into control and experimental groups. The experimental group received ten 90-minute sessions of group logotherapy, while the control group received no intervention. The tools used in this study included the Templer's death anxiety, Russell et al.'s feeling of loneliness, and the Steger et al.'s meaning of life questionnaires. The data were analyzed using univariate analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) in SPSS-24 software. The results revealed that there is a significant difference between control and experimental groups in terms of death anxiety, feeling of loneliness and meaning of life (P < 0.05). In other words, group logotherapy decreased death anxiety and feeling of loneliness and increased the meaning of life in the elderly. According to the results, it appears that this treatment can be effectively used in rehabilitation centers and other psychological and counseling centers in order to improve the mental health of the elderly. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)