J Korean Acad Community Health Nurs.  2015 Sep;26(3):238-247. 10.12799/jkachn.2015.26.3.238.

The Effects of a Positive Psychology Improvement Program on Elders' Depression and Death Anxiety

• Lim SJ
• Lee HS
• Kim C
• Go Y

• KMID: 2173821
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.12799/jkachn.2015.26.3.238

Abstract

PURPOSE
This study was conducted to investigate the effects of a positive psychology improvement program on elders' depression and death anxiety.
METHODS
This was conducted as a quasi-experimental study with non-equivalent control group pretest-posttest design. The participants were community elders aged over 65 recruited by convenient sampling. A total of 94 elders (32 in the individual experimental group, 32 in the collective experimental group, and 30 in the control group) participated. Data were collected between April and September, 2012 and analyzed by using SPSS/WIN 21.
RESULTS
The individual and group approach experimental groups had significantly lower scores of depression than the control group after the treatment (F=7.50, p=.001). For death anxiety, however, only the individual experimental group had a significantly lower score compared to the control group (F=4.56, p=.013).
CONCLUSION
These results indicate that the positive psychology improvement program was effective in decreasing depression and death anxiety in the elderly. Therefore, the program needs to be applied in a customized way fittingly to the characteristics of the elderly in community, and individually and/or collectively according to its purposes.

Keyword

Elderly; Depression; Death; Anxiety; Psychology

MeSH Terms

Aged
Anxiety*
Depression*
Humans
Psychology*