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

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of two group counseling therapy interventions on levels of life satisfaction and mood disturbance of older women, age 65+, living in two 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 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 groups. A Paired Samples Test was conducted to determine which treatment intervention was statistically significant. Due to small sample size, the Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test was performed. No statistical significance was found for GAT on life satisfaction. Results for the Paired Samples Test for the GLSNT found statistical significance for life satisfaction. A univariate ANCOVA with group membership as fixed independent variable was 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 statistically significant differences were found in either group therapy intervention for mood disturbance. Recommendations for future research were offered.