Effect of Positive Interventions Training on Happiness, Life Satisfaction, Positive and Negative Emotions in Veterans

When a person is exposed to stress, her/his ability to cope decreases and affects her/his life in both quantitative and qualitative ways. This study was to determine the effectiveness of positive intervention training on the levels of veterans’ happiness, life satisfaction, positive and negative emotions.

This semi-experimental study was carried out on veterans, spouses of veterans and martyrs in Tehran in 2019. 64 veterans (28 veterans and 36 spouses of veterans and martyrs) were randomly assigned into experimental and control groups (n=32 for each group). The Oxford Happiness Questionnaire, Life Satisfaction Scale and positive and negative emotions scale were performed in pretest step. Then, the experimental group received 10 sessions (2 hours) of training, but the control group did not receive any training. The data were analyzed by multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) with repeated measure and Bonferroni post hoc test, using SPSS 24 software. At the end of the intervention sessions and two months later (follow-up), post-test was performed on the experimental and control groups.

The positive interventions had a significant effect on increasing happiness and positive emotions and reducing negative emotions of the veterans (p<0.05). There was no significant difference between the experimental and control group in life satisfaction (p>0.05). This change was maintained in the follow-up phase.

Performing positivist interventions can be considered in increasing happiness and positive emotion and reducing negative emotion in veterans.