Introduction: The growing elderly population and their psychological challenges necessitate attention to effective strategies for improving mental health in this age group. Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy is one of the effective interventions in the field of mental health that has potential for reducing loneliness and increasing self-compassion in the elderly; however, its effectiveness in this area has not been comprehensively studied. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the effect of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy on loneliness and self-compassion in the elderly.
Method: The research method was quasi-experimental with a pretest-posttest and follow-up design with a control group. The statistical population included all elderly residents in nursing homes, from which 30 individuals were selected using the convenience sampling method and randomly assigned to experimental (15 people) and control (15 people) groups. The Loneliness Scale by Russell et al. (1980) and the Self-Compassion Scale by Raes et al. (2011) were used to collect data. The Beck cognitive therapy program was implemented for the experimental group in eight 90-minute sessions, once a week. For data analysis, repeated measures analysis of variance was used with SPSS software version 26.
Results: The results showed that Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy has a significant effect on loneliness and self-compassion in the elderly, and this effect remained significant during the follow-up period (P<0.001).
Conclusion: The findings of this study indicate that Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy can significantly reduce loneliness and increase the level of self-compassion in the elderly. The persistence of these effects during the follow-up period indicates the long-term effectiveness of this therapeutic approach. These results highlight the importance of implementing cognitive-behavioral interventions in elderly mental health programs and can guide the design of effective treatment protocols for improving the quality of life and psychological well-being of this age group.