Comparison of The Effects of Cognitive Therapy and Logotherapy on Iranian Elderly People’s General Health

Background: Mental health promotion programs in the elderly are important. The main objective ofthe present study was to compare the effects of cognitive therapy and logotherapy on the general healthof elderly people who referred to health centers.Methods: This is a quasi-experimental study with pretest-posttest design using a control group. Asample of 90 elderly people was recruited from health centers located in Rafsanjan, between April2017 and June 2017. 30 participants were considered in each group, separately (cognitive therapy(N=30), logotherapy (N=30), and control (N=30)). Cognitive therapy and logotherapy programs wereimplemented in eight 90-minute sessions, while people in the control group received neither cognitivetherapy nor logotherapy. The demographic questionnaire was used at baseline. The 28-item GeneralHealth Questionnaire (GHQ-28) was used in two steps of pre-test and post-test. The study data wereanalyzed through independent t-test, Chi-square, one-way ANOVA, and the Tukey’s post hoc tests;SPSS 18 was used to analyze the data, and p Results: The mean GHQ-28 total scores before the intervention in the cognitive therapy and logotherapygroups and control group were 52.53±2.55, 52.63±5.64, and 52.26±4.09, respectively, which werenot significantly different (P=0.94). However, after the intervention these scores were 41.60±3.31,40.46±3.97 and 51.93±4.22, respectively, and the difference between the two intervention groups andcontrol group was statistically significant (p <0.001). There was no significant difference between thetwo intervention groups (P=0.49).Conclusions: Group cognitive therapy is as effective as logotherapy in improving the elderly people’sgeneral health.