• The effect of movement therapy on depression in elderly people with leukemia
  • Hamidreza Amini,1,* Hengam Nazari,2 Moosa Alavi,3 Zeinab sadat Moosavifard,4
    1. Bachelor of Nursing student, Islamic Azad University, Bandar Abbas branch, Iran.
    2. Bachelor of Nursing student, Islamic Azad University, Bandar Abbas branch, Iran.
    3. Bachelor of Nursing student, Islamic Azad University, Bandar Abbas branch, Iran.
    4. Department of Nursing, BA.C, Islamic Azad University, Bandar Abbas, Iran


  • Introduction: Cancer is the third leading cause of death and one of the leading causes of chronic disability in the world. Leukemia can have serious and multiple impacts on an individual's quality of life. These impacts include physical, psychological, and social aspects of an individual's life and can include fatigue, pain, impaired immune function, reproductive problems, and psychological impacts such as depression and anxiety. However, therapeutic advances in recent years have significantly improved the quality of life of patients with leukemia. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of hope therapy on the quality of life of elderly people with cancer.
  • Methods: The present study is a quasi-experimental design that was conducted in 1402 at the Oncology Center of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. 40 elderly people with leukemia were randomly assigned to two control groups (20 people) and experimental group (20 people). Participants in the experimental group received movement therapy for 6 sessions for 60 minutes, but the control group did not receive any intervention. The Back Depression Test was used to determine the level of depression and the required individual information was collected through a questionnaire. The research samples were examined in two stages before and after the implementation of the movement therapy program in terms of depression.
  • Results: Elderly people with leukemia with a mean age of 57 ± 7 years participated in this evaluation. The results of this study showed that the research hypothesis regarding the effect of movement therapy on improving depression in elderly people with leukemia was confirmed, and the participants in the experimental group had significantly reduced depression in the post-test compared to the participants in the control group, so that the average level of depression in the experimental group before applying movement therapy was 19.43 and after it was 13.09 (P<0.05)
  • Conclusion: The results of the study indicate the effect of movement therapy on reducing depression in elderly people with leukemia. According to the results of this study; using a team approach, the need for cooperation between oncology specialists and psychologists, and paying attention to movement and sports interventions in addition to drug therapy are recommended in order to improve the mental state of elderly people with leukemia.
  • Keywords: Elderly, leukemia, movement therapy, depression