Effectiveness of psycho-educational intervention on psychological distress and self-esteem among resident elderly: A study from old age homes of Punjab, India

• Main Authors: Sushil Kumar Maheshwari, Rintu Chaturvedi, Preksha Sharma
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2021-07-01
• Series: Clinical Epidemiology and Global Health
• Subjects: Psycho-education; Distress; Self-esteem; Elderly; Old-age-home
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213398421000373

Background: Old age is an inevitable developmental phenomenon and expected to affect psychology of geriatric people. As life expectancy continues to rise, one of the greatest challenges of public health is to improve the mental health and self-esteem. Aim: Study aimed to assess the effectiveness of psycho-education on psychological distress and self-esteem among elderly residing in selected old age home of Punjab, India. Methodology/design: A pre-experimental research approach with one group pre-test post-test design was used. Sixty resident elderly were selected randomly who received psycho educational intervention which comprised of 14 sessions and delivered on daily basis. Each session was 1 h duration. Psychological distress includes depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms and stress. The socio-demographic profile sheet, DASS- 21 scale and Rosenberg self-esteem scale was used. Follow-up data was collected after one month. Results: Nearly 53.3% had severe depressive symptoms, 15% had severe anxiety, 75% had severe stress before intervention. Psycho-education training was highly effective in improving self esteem (t = −19.64, p=<0.001) and reducing depression (t = 37.79, p=<0.001), anxiety (t = 35.15, p=<0.001) and stress (t = 34.62, p=<0.001) of elderly in experimental group at one month follow-up. Conclusion: This Study supports the positive effect of psycho-educational intervention on psychological distress (depressive symptoms, anxiety and stress) and self esteem among geriatric population. Policy makers and health care providers may include these brief interventions into standard care for elderly in community and hospital settings to improve their mental health, taking into consideration the participant's preference.