@2024 Afarand., IRAN

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ISSN: 2008-2630    Iranian Journal of War & Public Health 2019;11(4):175-182

Background
War is a psychological trauma different from human’s ordinary experiences and is potentially dangerous to anyone. [1,2].
Previous Studies
... [3-7]. People with this disorder are characterized by low hardness, lack of self-confidence, violence, low family solidarity, high levels of conflict, intimacy and limited personal openness and low resilience [7]. ... [8-11]. Studying resilience is important for several reasons; first, research has shown that the prevalence of some emotional problems, such as anxiety and depression in people with low levels of resilience is higher than average [12]. In addition, those with resilience are less likely to be attracted to high-risk behaviors and burnout. ... [13]. ... [14-22]. Hope in patients leads to positive participation in treatment and increased quality of life [23]. Veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder with low levels of hope had better quality of life after increasing their hope [24]. People who have higher levels of hope are less distressed [25]. ... [26-28]. Among the factors that have recently attracted psychologists' attention to their role in mental health are spirituality therapies and related concepts [29]. ... [30-32]. In psychological research, spiritual experiences have also been regarded as one of religious strategies. Many psychologists and physicians regard faith and spirituality as an important resource in the physical and mental health and well-being of individuals and they often consider patients' spiritual issues essential in the treatment process [33-38].
Aim(s)
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of spiritual-Islamic group therapy on increasing resilience and life expectancy of psychiatric veterans.
Research type
This research was a quasi-experimental study with a pretest-posttest design and control group.
Research society, place and time
The statistical population of the study consisted of all psychiatric veterans in Maragheh, Iran.
Sampling method and number
Using available sampling, 30 subjects were selected; therefore, referring to the Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs of Maragheh, the list of psychiatric veterans was obtained and 30 individuals who met the inclusion criteria for the study were selected and after homogenization were randomly divided into experimental (n = 15) and control (n = 15) groups. Inclusion criteria included the age of between 40 and 60 years, reading and writing ability, and no other psychiatric disorders. The exclusion criteria included being absent for more than two sessions in group therapy sessions, incidence of new disorders and diseases that prevented the individual from attending the sessions, and the individual's unwillingness to continue the study.
Used devices&materials
The data collection tools included Resiliency Scale [9, 39, 40] and Hope Scale [41-44]. After sampling, participants were given the necessary explanations for the purposes of the research and confidentiality of personal information and they were asked to answer the questionnaires honestly and accurately. Then, the experimental group participated in 8 90-min sessions of spiritual-Islamic group therapy for 10 weeks. The control group received no intervention during this period. After the sessions, both groups were asked to complete the questionnaires again. The Group Spiritual Intervention Protocol was designed in 2006 by Jeffrey Joseph Lyon at Pepperdine University of California [45]. In this study, the teachings of Islamic religion were used during study; therefore, the term “spiritual-Islamic group therapy” was used. To determine the validity of the protocol, a number of religious clerics and scholars were consulted expert in Islamic-spiritual treatment and the protocol was approved. Descriptive and inferential statistical methods were used for data analysis. For descriptive statistics, the mean and standard deviation, and for inferential statistics, the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test to assess the normal distribution of data were used. Multivariate analysis of covariance was used to compare the mean scores of the research variables in the two groups in the post-test. Data were analyzed by SPSS 21 software.
Findings by Text
The mean age of the experimental and control groups were 50.00 ± 5.20 and 50.00 ± 4.32 years, respectively. After adjustment for the pre-test effect, there was a significant difference between the mean post-test scores of resilience and life expectancy variables in the experimental and control groups and after intervention, the mean scores of these variables were higher in the experimental group than in the control group (Table 1).
Main comparison to the similar studies
The findings of the present study showed that the resilience of the veterans subjected to spiritual therapy was more than those who had not received such treatment. The results of several relevant studies are consistent with this finding, such as the results reported by Bagheri & Foumani [46], Dehghan et al. [47], and McClellar [48]. It should be noted that spiritual-Islamic group therapy had a good effect on increasing the resilience of the studied group, but it cannot be used as the only treatment for psychiatric veterans; because they have different levels of physical, psychological, family, and social problems. Findings of this study showed that life expectancy of veterans who were exposed to spiritual therapy was more than veterans who did not receive such treatment. These finding are in line with the findings of the studies by Johnson [24], Brank et al. ... [59], Bagheri & Foumani [46], Dehghan et al. [47].
Suggestions
To increase external validity, it is suggested that researchers do similar research on different groups and women.
Limitations
One of the limitations of this study was the time spent for sampling, since it takes long time to obtain permission for the psychiatric veterans' cooperation.
Conclusions
The spiritual-Islamic group therapy intervention improves resilience and life expectancy in psychiatric veterans.
Acknowledgments
The authors are thankful to the staff of the Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs of Maragheh, as well as the psychiatric veterans who participated in the study.
Conflict of interest
None.
Ethical Permissions
Ethical considerations were considered; the informed consent was obtained from the participants and also they were assured of the confidentiality of the results.
Funding Sources
This study was not funded by any organozation.

TABLES and CHARTS

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