Application Of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy In Alexithymia Of Elderly In Nursing Home

Objective:To evaluate the effect of rational emotive behavior therapy on improving alexithymia of elderly in nursing home.Methods:This study is a experimental study.Study subjects were recruited and intervened from March 2021 to November 2021.The elderly in two nursing homes in Changsha were recruited according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria.The elderly were randomly grouped by SPSS 25.0random sequence.The control group received routine nursing care in the nursing home,and the intervention group received rational emotive behavior therapy based on routine nursing care.The baseline data of the elderly were collected,including general information questionnaire,Toronto Alexithymia Scale,Patient Health Questionnaire Depression Module,Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7,Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index Scale.The intervention was performed once a week for about 45 minutes each time for a total of 6 weeks.The evaluation indexes were collected again immediately after the intervention and 3 months after the intervention.The data were statistically analyzed by independent sample t-test,Chi-square test,Wilcoxon rank sum test,repeated measure ANOVA,and Generalized Estimating Equations(GEE).The statistical test was two-sided.The test level was α=0.05.Results:(1)A total of 86 elderly people were included in nursing homes before intervention,including 43 in the intervention group and 43 in the control group.One person was lost to follow-up in the intervention group and one person was lost to follow-up in the control group.The final sample size was 84 people,42 in the intervention group and 42 in the control group.There were no significant differences in demographic data,baseline alexithymia and scores of all dimensions,depression scores,anxiety scores,sleep quality and scores of all dimensions between the two groups(P>0.05).(2)Effect of rational emotive behavior therapy on alexithymia of elderly in nursing homeAccording to repeated measure ANOVA,the results of two groups of the elderly in alexithymia scores,emotional recognition dimension and emotion description disorder scores were statistically significant.The time also affected the alexithymia scores,emotional recognition dimension and emotion description disorder scores(P<0.05).There was an interaction between time and intervention(P<0.05).Comparison between the two groups showed that there were differences in scores of alexithymia,emotion recognition disorder and emotion description disorder immediately after intervention and 3 months after intervention(P<0.05),and the scores of the intervention group were lower than those of the control group.However,there was no statistical difference in the influence of intervention on the scores of external-oriented thinking dimension(P>0.05).(3)Effect of rational emotive behavior therapy on depression and anxiety of elderly in nursing homeAccording to GEE,the results showed that there was no significant difference in depression scale scores between the intervention group and the control group(P>0.05),and there was no significant difference in anxiety scale scores between the intervention group and the control group(P>0.05).(4)Effect of rational emotive behavior therapy on sleep quality of elderly in nursing homeAccording to GEE,there were statistically significant differences between the two groups in sleep quality total scores,sleep quality dimension,sleep latency dimension,sleep time dimension,sleep efficiency dimension,sleep disorder dimension and daytime dysfunction dimension.The time effect was significant(P<0.05).There was an interaction between time and intervention factors(P<0.05).But there was no statistical difference in the influence of intervention on hypnotic dimension scores(P>0.05).Conclusion:(1)Rational emotive behavior therapy can improve alexithymia,emotion recognition disorder and emotion description disorder of the elderly in nursing home.(2)Rational emotive behavior therapy can improve the sleep quality of the elderly in nursing home.(3)Rational emotive behavior therapy fails to improve anxiety and depression of the elderly in nursing home.