Spiritual Therapy in the Elderly: A Systematic Review

Based on the needs of the elderly, there are various treatment methods such as spiritual therapy. Spiritual therapy encourages therapists to address the important spiritual beliefs of patients at the right time and use interventions by considering their spirituality during recovery. The present study aims to review the effects of spiritual therapy in the elderly. Information sources or data: In this systematic review study, after searching in reliable databases (IranMedex, Google Scholar, SID, PubMed, Scopus), related articles published from 2010-2020 were extracted. The review of studies was done using a step-by-step matrix approach. The qualitative evaluation of the articles was done using the Joanna Briggs Institute tools.

Of 3561 found articles, 30 related articles were selected, of which 20 articles were finally selected for the review which were descriptive and analytical studies and clinical trials.

Spiritual therapy affects various aspects of life in the elderly, including which quality of life (QoL), life expectancy, depression, death anxiety and mental strength.

Considering the positive effects of spiritual therapy on the physical and mental health of the elderly, managers, nurses, and all people who are in contact with the elderly can use this type of treatment to improve the general conditions and increase the QoL of this group.