The Effectiveness of Spiritual-Religion Psychotherapy on Mental Distress (Depression, Anxiety and Stress) in the Elderly Living in Nursing Homes

Background and objectives: being away from the familiar surroundings and family supports, decline in capabilities and skills, and age-related failures can lead to mental problems in the elderly living in nursing homes. this study was conducted with the aim of investigating the effectiveness of spiritual-religious psychotherapy on mental distress in the elderly in nursing homes.methods: the study population of this semi-experimental study with control group and pretest-posttest, consisted of all elderly living in the nursing home of bandar abbas, southern iran in 2016. samples (n: 28) were selected by convenience sampling and then randomly divided into two groups, experimental and control. experimental group received spiritual-religion psychotherapy. data collection instrument was depression, anxiety and stress scales. data analysis was conducted by multivariate analysis of variance in the spss version 22.results: spiritual-religious psychotherapy had significant effect in improving depression (f=138.47, p<0.05), anxiety (f=34.57, p<0.05), and stress (f=87.30, p<0.05).conclusion: spiritual-religious psychotherapy can serve as an effective approach to improve mental distress in the elderly.