Mahmoudpour Abdolbaset, Ferdousi Kejani Kimia, Karami Mina, Toosi Maryam, Ahmadboukani Soliman
Department of Counseling Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Allameh Tabataba'i University Tehran Iran.
Department of Psychology Tehran East Branch, Islamic Azad University Tehran Iran.
Health Sci Rep. 2023 Jul 6;6(7):e1397. doi: 10.1002/hsr2.1397. eCollection 2023 Jul.
Empty nest syndrome (ENS) is a mental condition that affects both parents. When children leave their parents' home, the parents experience such feelings as unhappiness, loss, fear, inability, difficulty in adjusting roles, and changing their relationships. The present study aimed to evaluate the cognitive flexibility and emotional self-regulation of the elderly with ENS: benefits of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT).
The research method was quasi-experimental where a pretest-posttest design was used with a control group. The statistical population included all the elderly with the ENS in Tehran in the academic year of 2019-2020. Thirty of them were selected by convenience sampling method and then stochastically placed in two experimental and control groups. Dennis and VanderWal's Cognitive Flexibility Inventory, and Hofmann and Kashdan's Emotional Self-Regulatory Questionnaire for data collection in the pretest and posttest phases. Group-based ACT was implemented on experimental group members in 8 sessions of 90 min, while controls received no intervention. The collected data were analyzed by SPSS version 25 and analysis of covariance.
The results showed a significant difference between the posttest scores of the experimental and control groups so the group-based ACT increased the cognitive flexibility and emotional self-regulation of the experimental group members ( < 0.05).
According to our results, therapists and health professionals can use ACT for interventions related to the health of the elderly with ENS, especially to improve cognitive flexibility and emotional self-regulation.
空巢综合征（ENS）是一种影响父母双方的心理状况。当子女离开父母家时，父母会经历诸如不快乐、失落、恐惧、无助、难以调整角色以及改变人际关系等感受。本研究旨在评估患有空巢综合征的老年人的认知灵活性和情绪自我调节能力：接纳与承诺疗法（ACT）的益处。
研究方法为准实验性研究，采用前测-后测设计并设有对照组。统计总体包括2019 - 2020学年德黑兰所有患有空巢综合征的老年人。通过便利抽样法选取其中30人，然后随机分为两个实验组和对照组。在前测和后测阶段，使用丹尼斯和范德瓦尔的认知灵活性量表以及霍夫曼和卡什丹的情绪自我调节问卷收集数据。对实验组成员实施为期8节、每节90分钟的基于团体的接纳与承诺疗法，而对照组不接受任何干预。收集的数据使用SPSS 25版软件进行协方差分析。
结果显示实验组和对照组的后测分数存在显著差异，因此基于团体的接纳与承诺疗法提高了实验组成员的认知灵活性和情绪自我调节能力（<0.05）。
根据我们的研究结果，治疗师和健康专业人员可以使用接纳与承诺疗法对患有空巢综合征的老年人进行健康相关干预，尤其是改善认知灵活性和情绪自我调节能力。
