The effectiveness of existential psychotherapy on attitude to life and self-flourishing of educated women homemakers

INTRODUCTION: Women make up half of the world's population and play a critical role in the health and well-being of the family and society. The purpose of this study is to determine the effectiveness of existential psychotherapy on attitude to life and self-flourishing of educated women homemakers. METHODS: A quasiexperimental study with the pretest–posttest design is used in this work. The research population included 68 homemakers with university education who live in Neyshabur, Iran. Sampling method was available. The women were randomly assigned into two groups: intervention and control groups. The women in the intervention group participated in 10 sessions of existential therapy group. The data collection tool was a questionnaire of Life Regard Index (LRI) and Human Flourishing Questionnaire (HFQ). The data were analyzed by the SPSS software version 21 using Chi-square, independent t-test, and paired t-test while P < 0.05 considered as a significant level. RESULTS: Scores of attitude to life and self-flourishing in educated homemakers before intervention were not significantly different in the two groups. Independent t-test showed that self-flourishing was significantly increased in the intervention group (90.88 ± 15.27) compared to the control group (79.64 ± 15.87) (P = 0.004). The attitude to life was significantly increased in the intervention group (35.79 ± 14.21) compared to the control group (27.50 ± 8.77) (P = 0.005). CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study emphasize that existential group therapy is effective in attitude to life, and self-flourishing of educated homemakers. This therapy can also be used to enhance individual and social abilities the importance and impact of existential psychotherapy on enhancing capabilities such as a positive attitude to life and self-flourishing.