{"title":"Effect of Strength-Based Narrative Therapy on Depression Symptoms and Quality of Life in the Elderly.","authors":"Shengguo Zhu, Qiaoyuan Liao, Huaping Yuan","doi":"10.18502/ijph.v54i1.17582","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Depression is a common psychological problem among the elderly. It undermines the elderly's quality of life and imposes a heavy economic burden on society and families. Depression in this group must be addressed, but effective intervention therapies remain absent in existing studies. Strength-based cognitive behavior theory was combined with narrative therapy in this study. Its effect on depression in the elderly was verified through an intervention experiment.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>From April to June 2024, 319 elderly people were recruited from Huoju Community in Changsha, Hunan Province, China to examine the factors influencing depression. A total of 85 of them with depression symptoms were included in a randomized intervention experiment and divided into two groups: 42 in the experiment group and 43 in the control group. The experiment group was intervened with strength-based narrative therapy, whereas the control group was given no targeted intervention.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>After the intervention, 1) the total depression score of the experiment group was significantly lower than that of the control group (<i>P</i>=0.001); 2) the mental state score of the control group decreased more significantly than that of the experiment group (<i>P</i><0.05); and 3) the quality-of-life score of the experiment group was significantly higher than that of the control group at different time points (<i>P</i><0.05).</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Strength-based narrative therapy can effectively alleviate depression symptoms in the elderly, improve their mental state, delay their cognitive decline, and enhance their quality of life. It is an effective option to promote the elderly's mental health.</p>","PeriodicalId":49173,"journal":{"name":"Iranian Journal of Public Health","volume":"54 1","pages":"124-132"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3000,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11787837/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Iranian Journal of Public Health","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.18502/ijph.v54i1.17582","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: Depression is a common psychological problem among the elderly. It undermines the elderly's quality of life and imposes a heavy economic burden on society and families. Depression in this group must be addressed, but effective intervention therapies remain absent in existing studies. Strength-based cognitive behavior theory was combined with narrative therapy in this study. Its effect on depression in the elderly was verified through an intervention experiment.
Methods: From April to June 2024, 319 elderly people were recruited from Huoju Community in Changsha, Hunan Province, China to examine the factors influencing depression. A total of 85 of them with depression symptoms were included in a randomized intervention experiment and divided into two groups: 42 in the experiment group and 43 in the control group. The experiment group was intervened with strength-based narrative therapy, whereas the control group was given no targeted intervention.
Results: After the intervention, 1) the total depression score of the experiment group was significantly lower than that of the control group (P=0.001); 2) the mental state score of the control group decreased more significantly than that of the experiment group (P<0.05); and 3) the quality-of-life score of the experiment group was significantly higher than that of the control group at different time points (P<0.05).
Conclusion: Strength-based narrative therapy can effectively alleviate depression symptoms in the elderly, improve their mental state, delay their cognitive decline, and enhance their quality of life. It is an effective option to promote the elderly's mental health.
期刊介绍：
Iranian Journal of Public Health has been continuously published since 1971, as the only Journal in all health domains, with wide distribution (including WHO in Geneva and Cairo) in two languages (English and Persian). From 2001 issue, the Journal is published only in English language. During the last 41 years more than 2000 scientific research papers, results of health activities, surveys and services, have been published in this Journal. To meet the increasing demand of respected researchers, as of January 2012, the Journal is published monthly. I wish this will assist to promote the level of global knowledge. The main topics that the Journal would welcome are: Bioethics, Disaster and Health, Entomology, Epidemiology, Health and Environment, Health Economics, Health Services, Immunology, Medical Genetics, Mental Health, Microbiology, Nutrition and Food Safety, Occupational Health, Oral Health. We would be very delighted to receive your Original papers, Review Articles, Short communications, Case reports and Scientific Letters to the Editor on the above mentioned research areas.
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