The Comparison of the Effectiveness of Group-Based Logotherapy and Solution-Oriented Therapy on Death Anxiety and Feeling of Loneliness in Elderly women with Fear of Coronavirus

The coronavirus disease, as an emerging disease with global spread and high mortality rates among vulnerable groups, in addition to physical symptoms, has led to the occurrence of many psychological disorders such as death anxiety and feeling of loneliness due to the fear of infection. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of group logotherapy and solution-oriented therapy on anxiety and feeling of loneliness in the elderly with the fear of coronavirus. The research method was quasi-experimental with pretest-posttest and a control group design. The statistical population consisted of the elderly women who took part in the daily rehabilitation centers of the Welfare Institution (Sazman-e Behzisti), in Tabriz, among whom 36 eligible individuals were selected and randomly assigned into two experimental and one control groups. measuers applied in the current study incuded Templer’s Death Anxiety Scale and Russell et al.’s UCLA Loneliness Scale. The experimental groups underwent ten 90-minute therapy sessions, separately and with two different approaches, while the control group did not receive any intervention at the same time. The data were analysed using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) in SPSS-24 software. The results indicated that logotherapy and Solution-oriented therapy have a significant effect on reducing death anxiety and feeling of loneliness (P<0.05). Although, there was no significant difference between two experimental groups in reducing death anxiety (P>0.05), there was a significant difference between the two experimental groups in reducing loneliness, in a way that the effectiveness of logotherapy was greater (P<0.05). According to the results, logotherapy and solution-oriented therapy can be applied to improve the death anxiety and feeling of loneliness among elderly women with fear of coronavirus.
The results indicated that logotherapy and Solution-oriented therapy had a significant effect on reducing death anxiety and feeling of loneliness compared to the control group (P< 0/05). However, there was no significant difference between two experimental groups regarding death anxiety (P> 0/05). In addition, there was a significant difference between the two experimental groups regarding loneliness (P< 0/05), and the effectiveness of logotherapy was greater. According to the results, logotherapy and Solution oriented therapy can be applied to improve the death anxiety and feeling of loneliness among elderly women with fear of coronavirus.
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