Comparing the Effectiveness of Compassion-Focused Group Therapy and Group Logotherapy on Mental Toughness in Older Adults
Keywords:
Compassion-based group therapy, Group meaning therapy, Mental endurance, the elderly, Group therapyAbstract
Objective: The present study aimed to compare the effectiveness of compassion-focused group therapy and group logotherapy on the mental toughness of older adult men aged over 65 years attending daily welfare centers in Bojnord, Iran.
Methods and Materials: This applied study employed a quasi-experimental pretest–posttest design with a control group. The statistical population consisted of 160 older adult men, from whom 45 participants were selected through convenience sampling and randomly assigned to three groups (n=15 each): compassion-focused group therapy, group logotherapy, and a control group. Data were collected using the 48-item Mental Toughness Questionnaire (MTQ-48). The compassion-focused intervention was delivered in eight 90-minute sessions, whereas the logotherapy program consisted of ten group sessions. Data were analyzed using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), chi-square tests, analysis of variance, and assumption-testing procedures in SPSS software.
Findings: ANCOVA results indicated that, after controlling for pretest scores, there was no statistically significant difference among the compassion-focused therapy, logotherapy, and control groups regarding mental toughness (P = 0.293). Furthermore, the comparison between the compassion-focused therapy group and the control group revealed no significant difference in mental toughness (P = 0.639). Similarly, no significant difference was found between the logotherapy group and the control group (P = 0.400). Statistical assumptions, including normality of distribution and homogeneity of variances, were satisfied.
Conclusion: Although some descriptive changes in mental toughness scores were observed following the interventions, these changes were not statistically significant. Therefore, under the conditions of the present study, neither compassion-focused group therapy nor group logotherapy significantly improved mental toughness among older adults compared with the control group, and no significant difference was found between the effectiveness of the two therapeutic approaches.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Morteza Haghshenas, Hossein Mahdian, Seyyed Hamid Nabavi (Author)
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