The effectiveness of emotionally focused therapy on mental toughness and sleep quality among people with a history of hospitalization because of Coronavirus

Abstract

Aim: This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of emotionally focused therapy on mental toughness and sleep quality among people with a history of hospitalization because of Coronavirus. Methods: This study was quasi-experimental with a pretest-posttest design and follow-up. The statistical population included people with a history of hospitalization because of Coronavirus in Chalous city. After screening people Kobasa and Maddi's hardiness questionnaire (1982) and Pittsburgh sleep quality index (1989), 30 people were selected by convenience sampling method and were randomly assigned to the experimental group (15 people) and control group (15 people). The participants of the experimental group received Johnson's (2012) emotionally focused therapy intervention in eight 90-minute sessions, and the control group did not receive any treatment. The data were analyzed using the mixed-design analysis of variance using SPSS software. Results: The results indicated that emotionally focused therapy intervention was effective in improving sleep quality (F = 9.18, P = 0.005) and psychological toughness (F = 4.66, P = 0.040). The effect was stable in the follow-up stage as well. Conclusion: The discriminant eta coefficient indicates that the grouping variable explains 24.7% of the changes in sleep quality and 14.3% of the changes in mental toughness. Therefore, emotionally focused therapy has been effective on mental toughness and sleep quality among people with a history of hospitalization because of Coronavirus.