The Effectiveness of Positive Psychotherapy on Pain Perception and Death Anxiety in the Elderly

Abstract

One of the undeniable realities of aging is recognizing the reality of death and the resulting anxiety, as well as the existence of pain, which is a common experience and a serious problem in old age and can weaken compatibility among the elderly. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of positive psychotherapy on pain perception and death anxiety in the elderly. It was a semi-experimental study with pretest-posttest design including control group. The statistical population of the present study included all elderly people in Aligudarz, Iran in 2018. The statistical sample consisted of 30 people who were randomly selected based on the entrance criteria of the study and divided to two experimental and control groups (15 people in each group). McGill Pain Questionnaire developed by Melzak, and the Templer Death Anxiety Scale were used to collect the data. The experimental group received 8 positive psychotherapy sessions each lasting for 90 minutes, while the control group received no intervention. Data were analyzed using univariate analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) in SPSS software version 25. The results of the study showed significant reduction of pain perception and death anxiety (P<0.01) experiment group compared to control group. Therefore, positive psychotherapy was effective on death anxiety and pain perception in the elderly. Based on the results of this study, it is recommended that positive psychotherapy be used to reduce pain perception and death anxiety among elderly.

Keywords

• elderly
• perceived pain
• death anxiety
• positive psychotherapy