Effects of a bereavement intervention program on depression and life satisfaction in middle aged widows in Korea.

PURPOSE This study was designed to examine the effects of a bereavement intervention program on levels of depression and life satisfaction in middle aged widows in Korea. METHODS A quasi-experimental design with non-equivalent control-group pretest-posttest was used. The subjects (control group, n = 10; intervention group, n = 17) were bereaved less than 6 months in G City and J Province, Korea. The bereavement intervention program consisted of Dan-jeon breathing, self-help group activities and a health examination. The experimental group attended 10 sessions of a bereavement intervention program. The control group had a health examination without the intervention program. For both groups, the level of depression and life satisfaction levels were measured before and after the experiment. RESULTS The decrement of depression level in the experimental group was significantly greater than in the control group (p<.001). The increment in life satisfaction in the experimental group was significantly greater than in the control group (p<.001). CONCLUSION The results suggested that the bereavement intervention program was effective in decreasing level of depression and in increasing the life satisfaction of widows. Accordingly, a bereavement intervention program can be applied as an intervention to help widows.