Abstract
Background & Objectives: Since older people suffer from many physical and psychological problems due to their age, improving physical and psychological health is essential for planners and practitioners in any country's social health field. Among the risk factors in old age is the increased concentration of lipids in the plasma, which can increase the problems of patients in the health field. Another problem for older people is the reduction of their cognitive abilities, which can lead to emotional and behavioral problems. In this regard, finding low–cost and low–risk ways to reduce older people's problems is one of society's main and important issues. On the other hand, nowadays, paying attention to psychological treatments as an alternative without complications and high costs to reduce the problems of patients has gained particular importance. Therefore, the present study compared the effectiveness of cognitive–behavioral therapy combined with self–compassion and cognitive–motor activities with cognitive–motor therapy alone on the plasma lipoproteins and executive functions of older people.
Methods: The research method was quasi–experimental, with a pretest–posttest and follow–up design with a control group. The statistical population consisted of older people over 60 living in Mashhad Cirt, Iran, in 2021. Among these, 42 volunteers (21 women and 21 men) who met the inclusion criteria were recruited and randomly assigned to the three groups: the first experimental group (cognitive–behavioral therapy combined with self–compassion and cognitive–motor activities), the second experimental group (cognitive–motor activities), and the control group (without intervention). The experimental groups were subjected to 18 sessions of 90 minutes during 9 weeks of interventions. The research tool was the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) (Gioia et al., 2000(. To analyze the research data, descriptive statistics indices, including frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation were used. Also, inferential statistics, including analysis of covariance to examine blood lipoproteins, analysis of variance with repeated measurements to investigate scores of executive functions, and Bonferroni post hoc test for intergroup comparison and variable measurement steps, were used. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 22 software, and the significance level of the tests was set at 0.05.
Results: The results indicated that only the two variables of triglyceride (p<0.001) and high–density lipoprotein (HDL) (p=0.003) had a significant difference between the three research groups in the posttest after removing the effect of the pretest. However, there were no significant differences between study groups regarding cholesterol (p=0.233) and low–density lipoprotein (LDL) (p=0.408). Both interventions significantly changed the amount of triglyceride (p=0.007) and HDL (p=0.006). Also, the effect of time, group, and the interaction effect of time and group on the variable of executive functions were significant (p<0.001). The difference between the averages in the first and second test groups between the pretest, posttest, and follow–up was significant (p<0.001). In both experimental groups, the difference between the average scores of the posttest and the follow–up was not significant, which indicated the persistence of the intervention's effect (p>0.05).
Conclusion: Based on the research findings, cognitive–behavioral therapy combined with self–compassion, cognitive–motor activities, and cognitive–motor therapy alone are effective and efficient in reducing plasma lipoproteins and improving the executive functions of older people. In comparison, cognitive–behavioral therapy combined with self–compassion and cognitive–motor activities has more effectiveness in triglyceride and HDL variables.
