A non-randomized study investigating the effectiveness of cognitive reframing in socially disconnected widows

Abstract

Objectives: Sociallydisconnected widows usually live a lonely and depressing life with anxiety andlow self-worth. Many have contemplated suicide and others have become a victimof suicide already. Evolving an intervention to provide succor to them to takecontrol of their lives may help a great deal. This paper presents the resultsof a nonrandomized study assessing the potency of cognitive reframing (CR) inreducing social disconnectedness (SD) among the widows.Methods: Thepre- and post-data was collected from a non-randomized sample of 41 widows inthe treatment group and 45 in the waitlist control group. The mean age of the participants was 41.383 ± 6.730 [95% CI = 39.940–42.940] (min. = 25 - max. = 56) years. Thecognitive reframing administered spanned for eight weeks.Results: Analysisof the data collected suggests that cognitive reframing is significantlyeffective in reducing socially disconnected behavior among the widows in thestudy. The social disconnected behavior among the widows reduced by 40.95%compared to 8.29% observed in the waitlist control group.Conclusions: The CR technique may be helpful inreducing social disconnectedness in widows. However, further study may berequired in a randomized sample to enhance generalization.