The Intervention Study Of Mindfulness Meditation Training On The Loneliness Of Urban Empty Nesters

The purpose of this study is to confirm the positive impact of mindfulness meditation training on city empty nesters' loneliness, anxiety and depression. The study makes use of eating meditation, breathing meditation, differentiating two arrows,body's feeling meditation, body scan, mountain meditation, three minutes of breathing space, idea is just an idea, labeling the ideas, sitting meditation, loving kindness meditation, etc. in mindfulness meditation training as well as some theory instruction which can properly alter social cognition deviations related to loneliness and effectively handle negative mood triggered by loneliness. In this thesis, city empty nesters are chosen to be the subject of the study.40 subjects that had over 35 scores in University of California Los Angeles Loneliness Scale (UCLA) were divided randomly with a single-blind method into the experimental group (n=20) and the controlled group (n=20). The experimental group was given a series of psychological interventions which cost 1.5 hours once a week for 8 times, whereas no interventions were given to the control group. Both groups went through the pretest and the posttest measured with the short-form of the UCLA Loneliness Scale (ULS-8), the short-form of the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15)and Geriatric Anxiety Inventory (GAI). After 1 month, the experimental group went through following test.The mindfulness meditation training for the city empty nesters effectively alleviates the levels of their loneliness, anxiety and depression. Besides, after 1 month,the intervention effect still can be maintained, and there is still room for improvement.It also provides some reference for future related researches. The designs in this study are viable and effective, and can be widely used in the elderly. Under the guidance of the theory of psychology, we not only enrich the study on the empty-nesters both in theory and practice, but also provide some research references and basis for related work.