The Effects of Dharma Therapy Program and Group Counseling on Stress in Older Adults with Non-Communicable Disease

Abstract

This quasi-experimental research aimed to compare: stress mean score in older adults with non-communicable diseases between those who joined and did not join the program before and after receiving Dharma therapy program before and after joining the group counseling and compare between those receiving the Dharma therapy program, the group counseling, and the control group. Samples were consisted of older adults with 4 NCDs group, aged 60-85 years old. The samples were recruited using a stratified sampling technique first and then using a purposive sampling. There were two experimental and one control groups with the total samples of 24 persons. The research instruments were questionnaire of stress with NCDs the reliability value of 0.95. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test for dependent samples,  t-test for independent samples and F-test. Findings revealed that, after the experiment and follow up, 1) there was a significant difference in stress mean scores between the group receiving Dharma therapy program and the control group (p=0.05); 2) there was significant difference in stress mean scores between the group receiving counseling and the control group (p=0.05; and 3) there was a significant difference in stress mean scores among groups 1, 2 and 3 at p=0.05. Therefore, both of these methods have a positive effect on promoting the mental health of the older adults in terms of stress and being able to adapt to face the reality of non-communicable diseases in a balanced life.