Effects of two group approaches on life satisfaction and mood of older females in nursing homes

The principle aim of this study was to evaluate whether two group therapy interventions would increase levels of life satisfaction and mood of older women, age 65+, living in two Metropolitan Detroit based skilled nursing home facilities. This quasi-experimental, two-treatment group design examined the pretest-posttest data of two group counseling therapy interventions, Group Art Therapy (GAT) and Group Life Stories Narrative Therapy (GLSNT). Seventeen participants completed the bi-weekly, 90-minute sessions, over a four-week period. A Univariate ANCOVA with group membership as the fixed independent variable was used to compare life satisfaction post scores with pre scores as covariates. Mean scores were compared to determine which group had the highest increase in life satisfaction following the group interventions. A statistically significant difference was found for life satisfaction between the two intervention groups. A Paired Samples Test was further conducted to determine which treatment intervention found significant differences. Due to small sample size, the Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test was performed. No significant differences were found for GAT on life satisfaction. However, results of the Paired Samples Test on life satisfaction found significant differences for GLSNT. A Univariate ANCOVA with group membership as fixed independent variable was also used to compare mood disturbance post scores with pre scores as covariates. Mean scores were compared to determine which group had the highest decrease in mood disturbance following the group interventions. No significant differences were found in either Group Art Therapy or Group Life Stories Narrative therapy for mood disturbance. Recommendations for future research were offered.