Introduction
In addition to physical and psychological problems, the elderly experience low life satisfaction [
8]. Life satisfaction refers to a person’s cognitive and affective evaluations of his/her life; the decline in cognitive, social and physical abilities in the elderly can affect their life satisfaction [
9]. Aging is a critical period that requires special attention in adapting to life changes. The attitude towards aging can have a direct effect on health; negative attitudes towards aging can affect physical and cognitive health. In this regard and considering the importance of empowering the elderly, this study aims to examine the effectiveness of a psychological empowerment program on life satisfaction and attitude towards aging in older women.
Materials and Methods
This is a quasi-experimental study with a pretest/posttest design. The study population includes all women aged 60-70 years referred to a charity foundation, in Tehran, Iran in 2020. Of these, 24 women were selected by a convenience sampling method. Informed consent to participate in the study, age 60-70 years, and at least a high school diploma were the inclusion criteria. They were randomly assigned to the intervention (n=12) and control (n=12) groups. They first completed the life satisfaction index-Z and the attitudes towards old age questionnaire. Then, the intervention group received the psychological empowerment program online at 8 sessions. Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used to analyze the data in SPSS software, version 19.
Results
The mean±SD age of participants was 64.83±3.86 in the intervention group and 64.17±3.41 years the control group (64.50±3.57 years in total). The results showed a significant difference in life satisfaction (F = 9.673, P= 0.006) and attitudes towards aging (F= 8.385, P= 0.009) between the two groups (
Table 1).
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The intervention group had higher scores in life satisfaction and attitudes towards aging after receiving the intervention. The psychological empowerment program thus promoted life satisfaction and attitudes toward aging in older women.
Discussion
Old age is a critical period in life. Due to advances in technologies and improvement in health conditions, the number of aged population is increasing. Hence, it is necessary to pay attention to their life satisfaction and attitude towards aging. The results in our study showed that the psychological empowerment program promoted life satisfaction and attitude towards aging in older women. This finding is consistent with the results of Oraki et al. [
19] and Mobaraki et al. [
20]. Oraki et al. [
19] showed that self-care empowerment training was effective in increasing hope, happiness and quality of life in in the elderly. Based on the results of this study, it can be concluded that the psychological empowerment program is effective in improving life satisfaction and attitude towards aging in older women. It can be used by experts in the fields of counseling, geriatrics, psychology and health.
Ethical Considerations
Compliance with ethical guidelines
This study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of Islamic Azad University of Arak Branch (Code: IR.IAU.ARAK.REC.1400.027).
Funding
This research did not receive any grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or non-profit sectors.
Authors' contributions
The authors equally contributed to preparing this article.
Conflicts of interest
The author declare no conflict of interest.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank all participants for their cooperation
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