Comparison of the effectiveness of Spirituality Based Existential Therapy and Healthy Aging Training Model on Hope to Life of Elderly People

Aging along with hope to life, is the basis for improving the well-being and quality of life in the elderly people. Therefore, the aim of this research was to comparing of the effectiveness of spirituality based existentialism therapy and healthy aging training model on hope to life of elderly people.

The study was a semi-experimental type with a pre-test and post-test design with a control group. The statistical population were the elderly people living in elderly care centers in Isfahan city in the spring of 2022, and the sample group was 58 of these elderly people who were purposefully selected and then randomly assigned into two experimental groups and one control group (The control group and the spirituality-based existential therapy group have 20 people in each group and the healthy aging training group has 18 people). Each of the spirituality-based existential therapy and healthy aging training model was carried out in 12 sessions of 90 minutes. Data were collected through the demographic information form and the hope to life scale and were analyzed by the methods of chi-square analysis, covariance analysis and Bonferroni post hoc test in SPSS version 26 software.

Findings of the research have demonstrated that the experimental and control groups did not have significant differences with each other in the variables of age, gender, education, number of children, physical illness and marital status (P>0.05). Also, the findings indicated that only the healthy aging training model is effective in improving hope to life in the elderly (P<0.01) and the spirituality based existentialism therapy does not have a significant effect on increasing this variable (P>0.05).  

It is concluded that, the healthy aging traing model as an effective approach can be used in care and education centers for the aging people to increase the hope of life, which plays a important role in improving their quality of life.