The Effectiveness of Compassion Therapy in Improving Mental Health and Internal Coherence of Young Members of the Teams of Messengers of Psychological Support in the Red Crescent Youth Organization

Abstract

Background and Purpose: Compassion therapy is a treatment method derived from the third wave of psychotherapy about which little research has been conducted; hence, the present study aimed to examine the effectiveness of compassion-based therapy in improving mental health and internal coherence of young members of teams of psychological support messengers of the Red Crescent Youth Organization in Tehran in 2019. Methods: The present research was a quasi-experimental study with a pretest-posttest design and a control group. The statistical population consisted of all young members of the teams of messengers of psychological support of the Red Crescent Youth Organization of Tehran and they were selected by the convenience sampling method and were classified into experimental (n=15) and control (n=15) groups. The experimental group received 8 sessions of compassion-based training and the control group waited for treatment during this period. The data collection method was based on the standard mental health questionnaire (Goldberg, 1972), and the Sense of Coherence Scale (Antonovsky, 1987). The reliability of the questionnaire was calculated using Cronbach's alpha method, and its value was 0.81 for the mental health questionnaire and above 0.72 for the Sense of Coherence Scale. Content validity was also used to test the validity of the questionnaire so that the questionnaires were approved by relevant experts. The analysis of data obtained from the questionnaires was performed via SPSS19 in descriptive and inferential sections (analysis of covariance). Results: The results indicated that compassion therapy was effective on "anxiety and insomnia", "social dysfunction", and "depression" of young people, while there was not any difference between the groups in terms of "physical symptoms". The results also indicated that compassion-based therapy increased the internal coherence of young people. Conclusion: Compassion-based therapy as a new treatment is probably a good intervention option to increase internal coherence and mental health.