An Experimental Study to Assess the Effectiveness of Mindfulness Therapy in Reducing Stress Among Elderly People Residing in Selected Old Age Homes in The Thiruvananthapuram District

Abstract

Mindfulness is conscious, non-judgemental awareness of the present moment. Mindfulness therapy helps to reduce stress, anxiety, depression, chronic pain etc. The present study aims to assess the effectiveness of mindfulness therapy in reducing stress among elderly people residing in selected old age homes in the Thiruvananthapuram district. The objective of the study is to assess the level of stress before Mindfulness therapy of elderly people which reside in old age homes. The effectiveness of mindfulness therapy in reducing stress among elderly people the association between pre-test levels of stress with their selected demographic variables such as age, gender-, frequency of visitors, number of children, time residing in old age home; source of income. The research design is a one-group pre-test post-test quasi-experimental design. The study is conducted among 50 elderly people in selected old age homes in the Thiruvananthapuram district. The data was collected by using the Modified Perceived Stress Scale. Frequency Percentage distribution, mean, standard deviation, paired t-test and chi-square were used for data analysis. The result of the study revealed that 54% of elderly people had moderate stress, and 46% of elderly people had severe stress. After mindfulness therapy 12% of elderly people had mild stress, and 88% of elderly people had moderate and no one had severe stress. Selected demographic variables include age, gender, frequency of visitors, number of children and duration of residing in old age homes. The association was assessed by means using chi-square Analysis showed that there is an association between the stress of elderly people and age (χ2=11.36), and frequency of visitors (χ2=6.97). The table values are significant at p< 0.05, and there is no association between the stress of elderly people and the demographic variables such as gender (χ2=0.252), number of children (χ2= 1.8), source of income (χ2 = 1.66), time residing in old age home (χ2=0.27). The table values are insignificant at p<0.05. The above findings show that elderly people who reside in old homes have moderate to severe stress so it becomes important to give Mindfulness Therapy to elderly people residing in old homes to reduce stress.