The effect of Islamic spiritual therapy on the religious orientation and resilience of the elderly living in nursing homes.

Parallel to the increase of the elderly population, it has become especially important to deal with problems and variables related and effective on their physical and mental health, including spirituality and religious orientation. This research was conducted with the aim of determining the effect of Islamic spiritual therapy on the religious orientation and resilience of the elderly.

The research method was semi-experimental and pre-test, post-test with a control group. The statistical population included all the elderly living in Ghaemshahr elderly care centers in 2023, 30 elderly people (15 experimental group and 15 control group) were selected by available sampling method. The data collection tool was the religious orientation questionnaire of Bahrami et al (2001) and resilience questionnaires of Connor and Dividson (2003). The intervention of Islamic spiritual therapy was performed on the experimental group and the control group did not receive any intervention. Data analysis was done with descriptive tests (mean and standard deviation) and covariance analysis using SPSS version 25 software. P level less than 0.05 was considered significant.

in the variable of religious orientation, the mean and standard deviation of the experimental group in the pre-test was 70.51±8.16 and in the post-test 96.15±9.86, and in the variable of resilience, the mean and standard deviation of the experimental group In the pre-test it was 47.23±5.97 and in the post-test it was 65.74±6.43. The results of the covariance analysis also showed that Islamic spiritual therapy had an effect on the resilience and religious orientation of the elderly (P < 0.01).

Based on the research findings, Islamic spiritual therapy can be used to reduce psychological problems and increase the peace of the elderly.