Effectiveness of Forgiveness-Based Group Therapy on Depression and Psychological Distress Symptoms of Elderly Women
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Abstract :
Abstract: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effectiveness of forgiveness-based group therapy on depression and psychological distress symptoms of elderly women who had been referred to Omid Gerontology Center in Theran. To evaluate the effectiveness of for-giveness-based intervenetion, quasi-experi-mental design with pre-test, post-test, and three-month follow up was used. The statistical population consisted of all elderly women who had been referred to Omid Gerontology Center in Tehran The sample consisted of 30 women meeting the research criteria who were ran-domly divided into control (N=15) and experi-mental group (N=15). Participants in both groups were assessed by Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) and Brief Symptoms In-ventory (BSI). After pretest, the experimental group met for a total of 8 forgiveness-based intervention sessions (2 hours each). Data showed a reduction in depression severity in experimental group (P<0.05). It also showed remission on Brief Symptoms Inventory subscales and its 3 total indexes, namely Glo-bal Severity Index, Positive Symptom Total, and Positive Symptom Distress Index (P<0.05). Therefore, it can be concluded that Forgiveness-based group therapy is an effec-tive intervention in depressed elderly women and could be useful in promoting mental health in this stage of life.