Citation (APA style): Mehdipour, A., Abedi, P., Ansari, S., & Dastoorpoor, M. (2021). The effectiveness of emotional freedom techniques (EFT) on depression of postmenopausal women: A randomized controlled trial. Journal of Complementary and Integrative Medicine, May 19 (online ahead of print). doi:10.1515/jcim-2020-0245
Abstract
Objectives: Postmenopausal women are at greater risk of depression. Depression may negatively affect the quality of life of women. Emotional freedom techniques (EFT) is an evidence-based therapy combining cognitive and exposure components with acupressure. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of EFT on depression in postmenopausal women.
Methods: This was a randomized controlled trial in which 88 women with mild to moderate depression recruited from a menopausal clinic in Ahvaz, Iran, and randomly assigned into two groups of EFT (n=44) and control for sham therapy (n=44). Women in the EFT group received two sessions of training and asked to continue EFT for eight weeks, one time per day. The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI2) was completed by women before and after the intervention. The control group received training on sham acupressure points similar to the intervention group. Data were collected using a demographic and BDI2. The independent t-test, chi-square, and ANCOVA were used to analyze data.
Results: The mean depression score in the intervention group reduced from 20.93 ± 4.6 to 10.96 ± 4.38 in comparison to the control group that reduced from 19.18 ± 2.79 to 17.01 ± 6.05 after intervention (p=0.001). After the eight-week intervention, the frequency of moderate depression decreased from 56.8 to 9.35% in the intervention and from 50 to 29.5% in the control group. In total, 63.4 and 34.15% in the intervention and control groups were free of depression respectively after the intervention (p<0.001).
Conclusions: The results of this study showed that using EFT for eight weeks could significantly reduce the mean score of depression in postmenopausal women. Using this method in public health centers for postmenopausal women is recommended.
Keywords: TCTR20200104002, depression, emotional freedom techniques, EFT, tapping, postmenopausal women
