Comparing the Effectiveness of Spirituality Therapy and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy on Sleep Quality, Resilience, and Death Anxiety in the Elderly

Background: Due to the various challenges that elderly individuals experience, their mental health requires greater attention, particularly in respect to resilience and aging-related death anxiety. This study compared the effects of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and spirituality therapy on elderly participants' resilience, sleep quality, and death anxiety. Methods: The present study was an applied and semi-experimental research with a pretest-posttest design, follow-up, and control group. The statistical population of the study included all elderly residents of nursing facilities in Shiraz, Iran, in 2019. The sample consisted of 45 individuals from the aforementioned community who participated voluntarily. They were randomly divided into the spirituality treatment (n = 15), ACT (n = 15), and control groups (n = 15). Data were gathered using the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC), Collett-Lester Fear of Death Scale (CL-FODS), ‎and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). MANCOVA and repeated measures ANOVA were used to examine the data in SPSS software. Results: According to the findings, ACT and spiritual treatment had a positive impact on sleep quality, resilience, and fear of dying (P < 0.001). However, resilience and sleep quality were improved more by ACT. Spirituality treatment was more effective on death anxiety. Conclusion: It can be concluded that ACT was more successful in improving resilience and sleep quality and spiritual counseling had a greater impact on death anxiety.