Strengths Based Character Education for the Elderly: A Quasi-Experimental Study

Freitas, Eduarda Rezende; Barbosa, Altemir José Gonçalves; Neufeld, Carmem Beatriz

doi:10.1590/0102.3772e372120

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School and Developmental Psychology • Psic.: Teor. e Pesq. 37 • 2021 • https://doi.org/10.1590/0102.3772e372120 copy

Strengths Based Character Education for the Elderly: A Quasi-Experimental Study

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

Abstract

This study aimed to analyze an intervention on Strengths Based Character Education for the Elderly (Educafi) and its effects on the variables character strengths, psychological well-being, life satisfaction and depressive symptoms. Forty-one elderly people participated in the research, divided into three groups: experimental, active control and control. Participants answered the same questionnaires in three moments: pretest, post-test and follow up. Statistically significant results were obtained for depressive symptoms, but not for the positive constructs assessed. Elderly people who participated in Educafi decreased the levels of these symptoms from the pretest to the post-test. However, in the follow up they returned to the initial levels. The results are discussed and suggestions for Educafi and other positive interventions for the elderly are presented.

Keywords
Positive Psychology; gerontology; positive intervention; psychological well-being

Variables	Group			IntergroupTests
Variables	Experimental	Active Control	Control	IntergroupTests
Age	M=67.93; DP=5.53	M=67.27; DP=6.65	M=72.82; DP=9.11	F=2.252 p=0.119
Years of schooling	M=10.07; DP=4.67	M=11.27; DP=5.76	M=8.55; DP=3.96	F=0.964 p=0.390
Gender				Phi=0.258 p=0.256
Female	n=15; 100%	n=13; 86.7%	n=9; 81.8%
Male	---	n=2; 13.3%	n=2; 18.2%
Marital Status				Phi=0.424 p=0.288
Married or in a steady relationship	n=8; 53.3%	n=6; 40%	n=5; 45.5%
Divorced	n=3; 20%	n=2; 13.3%	n=1; 9.1%
Widower	n=4; 26.7%	n=7; 46.7%	n=3; 27.3%
Single	---	---	n=2; 18.2%
Socioeconomic level				Phi=0.494 p=0.439
A1	n=1; 6.7%	n=1; 6.7%	---
A2	n=2; 13.3%	n=1; 6.7%	---
B1	n=2; 13.3%	n=4; 26.7%	n=1; 9.1%
B2	n=3; 20.0%	n=6; 40.0%	n=6; 54.5%
C1	n=5; 33.3%	n=2; 13.3%	n=1; 9.1%
C2	n=2; 13.3%	n=1; 6.7%	n=3; 27.3%

Character strengths	Measure	Group						ANOVA^a
		Experimental		Active control		Control
		M	SD	M	SD	M	SD
Open-mindedness	Pre-test	4.16	0.65	4.13	0.70	4.18	0.40	F=1.015 p=0.405
	Post-test	4.19	0.47	4.15	0.53	4.02	0.41
	Follow up	4.29	0.52	4.17	0.65	4.00	0.58
Love	Pre-test	4.53	0.44	4.44	0.44	4.33	0.52	F=0.719 p=0.582
	Post-test	4.35	0.56	4.25	0.49	4.24	0.54
	Follow up	4.40	0.55	4.45	0.44	4.45	0.54
Appreciation of Beauty and Excellence	Pre-test	4.35	0.59	4.37	0.53	4.25	0.52	F=1.204 p=0.316
	Post-test	4.35	0.53	4.27	0.55	4.18	0.56
	Follow up	4.29	0.55	4.21	0.62	4.38	0.55
Honesty	Pre-test	4.67	0.33	4.63	0.45	4.75	0.30	F=0.260 p=0.903
	Post-test	4.48	0.43	4.51	0.38	4.67	0.27
	Follow up	4.64	0.42	4.64	0.44	4.73	0.35
Self-Regulation	Pre-test	3.75	0.78	4.01	0.65	4.07	0.74	F=0.792 p=0.534
	Post-test	3.88	0.73	3.87	0.80	3.96	0.91
	Follow up	4.05	0.62	3.99	0.78	4.05	0.57
Kindness	Pre-test	4.68	0.43	4.49	0.52	4.75	0.32	F=0.327 p=0.859
	Post-test	4.68	0.40	4.51	0.42	4.69	0.27
	Follow up	4.72	0.41	4.55	0.50	4.64	0.36
Bravery	Pre-test	3.97	0.41	4.00	0.65	4.05	0.20	F=0.780 p=0.542
	Post-test	4.05	0.47	3.96	0.52	4.02	0.66
	Follow up	4.16	0.60	3.91	0.71	4.22	0.62
Teamwork	Pre-test	4.32	0.37	4.08	0.57	4.13	0.56	F=0.535 p=0.711
	Post-test	4.13	0.54	4.07	0.54	4.09	0.44
	Follow up	4.27	0.52	4.21	0.46	4.31	0.55
Creativity	Pre-test	3.96	0.66	3.92	0.67	4.02	0.64	F=1.100 p=0.363
	Post-test	4.12	0.68	3.99	0.61	3.87	0.66
	Follow up	3.99	0.88	4.05	0.70	4.20	0.61
Curiosity	Pre-test	4.28	0.51	4.07	0.67	4.04	0.59	F=0.915 p=0.446
	Post-test	4.40	0.38	4.05	0.67	4.15	0.66
	Follow up	4.09	0.96	4.07	0.75	4.11	0.72
Hope	Pre-test	4.36	0.45	4.28	0.58	4.51	0.43	F=0.063 p=0.992
	Post-test	4.33	0.46	4.27	0.64	4.49	0.55
	Follow up	4.45	0.47	4.32	0.61	4.55	0.40
Spirituality	Pre-test	4.71	0.32	4.67	0.44	4.71	0.33	F=0.492 p=0.741
	Post-test	4.57	0.47	4.67	0.40	4.58	0.30
	Follow up	4.67	0.40	4.64	0.41	4.64	0.40
Love of Learning	Pre-test	3.59	0.72	4.00	0.80	3.67	0.53	F=0.430 p=0.786
	Post-test	3.64	0.86	4.01	0.69	3.56	0.87
	Follow up	3.57	0.76	4.00	0.69	3.76	0.73
Gratitude	Pre-test	4.75	0.32	4.60	0.40	4.60	0.39	F=1.203 p=0.317
	Post-test	4.61	0.37	4.59	0.39	4.73	0.29
	Follow up	4.65	0.31	4.57	0.46	4.76	0.31
Humility	Pre-test	4.01	0.53	3.96	0.53	4.24	0.42	F=0.453 p=0.770
	Post-test	4.15	0.55	4.07	0.53	4.29	0.39
	Follow up	4.24	0.61	3.99	0.66	4.35	0.54
Humor	Pre-test	4.08	1.02	3.96	0.69	4.04	0.90	F=0.204 p=0.936
	Post-test	4.08	0.79	4.00	0.72	4.22	0.71
	Follow up	4.12	0.92	4.05	0.69	4.16	0.72
Fairness	Pre-test	4.67	0.40	4.47	0.50	4.44	0.40	F=0.520 p=0.721
	Post-test	4.53	0.44	4.40	0.51	4.45	0.36
	Follow up	4.53	0.40	4.45	0.55	4.51	0.33
Social Intelligence	Pre-test	4.28	0.54	4.05	0.82	4.36	0.50	F=0.189 p=0.909
	Post-test	4.31	0.51	3.97	0.72	4.27	0.40
	Follow up	4.37	0.53	4.11	0.78	4.35	0.52
Leadership	Pre-test	4.31	0.48	3.96	0.87	4.11	0.52	F=0.835 p=0.507
	Post-test	4.20	0.61	4.07	0.68	4.25	0.53
	Follow up	4.32	0.53	4.19	0.78	4.15	0.46
Forgiveness	Pre-test	4.21	0.55	4.33	0.66	4.25	0.52	F=1.225 p=0.307
	Post-test	4.33	0.48	4.23	0.63	4.49	0.39
	Follow up	4.39	0.54	4.28	0.71	4.36	0.41
Persistence	Pre-test	4.33	0.37	4.04	0.73	4.56	0.22	F=0.912 p=0.461
	Post-test	4.24	0.31	3.99	0.73	4.35	0.39
	Follow up	4.25	0.60	4.21	0.78	4.51	0.39
Perspective	Pre-test	4.01	0.59	3.67	0.55	3.98	0.66	F=0.303 p=0.848
	Post-test	3.95	0.66	3.77	0.53	3.87	0.60
	Follow up	4.07	0.67	3.85	0.65	3.98	0.86
Prudence	Pre-test	4.39	0.62	3.89	0.68	4.35	0.46	F=0.828 p=0.512
	Post-test	4.49	0.43	3.96	0.68	4.31	0.42
	Follow up	4.44	0.39	4.16	0.85	4.45	0.43
Zest	Pre-test	4.55	0.38	4.23	0.80	4.22	0.64	F=1.181 p=0.326
	Post-test	4.40	0.50	4.23	0.67	4.40	0.54
	Follow up	4.56	0.41	4.21	0.70	4.42	0.56

Variable	Measure	Group						ANOVA^a
		Experimental		Active Control		Control
		M	DP	M	DP	M	DP
Psychological Well Being - Total	Pre-test	9.87	1.60	10.07	1.94	9.82	1.08	F=0.942 p=0.445
	Post-test	12.20	3.10	11.13	3.54	12.91	2.47
	Follow up	12.60	3.92	12.73	3.10	13.27	3.07
Psychological Well Being - Agitation	Pre-test	4.33	1.29	4.47	1.51	4.45	1.13	F=1.394 p=0.244
	Post-test	4.60	1.35	4.33	1.80	4.64	0.81
	Follow up	4.33	1.63	4.00	1.51	4.73	0.79
Psychological Well Being - Attitude Toward Own Aging	Pre-test	2.27	0.80	2.20	0.56	2.36	0.67	F=1.180 p=0.326
	Post-test	3.33	1.35	2.53	1.41	3.55	1.04
	Follow up	3.33	1.59	3.60	1.45	3.55	1.37
Psychological Well Being - Lonely Dissatisfaction	Pre-test	3.27	0.96	3.40	0.99	3.00	0.77	F=0.512 p=0.727
	Post-test	4.27	1.49	4.27	1.33	4.73	1.42
	Follow up	4.93	1.44	5.13	1.06	5.00	1.73
Life Satisfaction	Pre-test	29.60	4.44	27.80	5.33	32.00	2.45	F=1.088 p=0.370
	Post-test	29.47	4.41	27.80	4.35	32.29	1.60
	Follow up	27.73	6.32	28.47	4.52	30.00	5.31
Depressive symptoms	Pre-test	2.60	2.16	2.13	2.36	2.18	2.82	F=2.910 p<0.05^*
	Post-test	1.73	1.33	1.73	1.91	2.36	3.56
	Follow up	2.93	2.37	1.80	2.27	1.82	3.37

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[1] ^* E-mail : eduardarezendefr@gmail.com