The efficacy and mechanism of positive psychological intervention on well-being for colostomy patients: a randomized controlled trial

The positive psychology intervention (PPI) is an effective therapy designed to motivate individuals' positive quality and power, to help them survive in an adverse situation, and to establish a high-quality personal and social life. This study aims to evaluate the efficacy and mechanism of PPI on the psychological capital, psychological distress, and life satisfaction among colostomy patients.Patients (n = 120) with permanent stomas were recruited and randomly assigned into two groups. Patients in the experimental group (n = 60) received standard care and PPI, whereas patients in the control group (n = 60) only received standard care. The psychological capital, psychological distress, and life satisfaction were measured and compared between two groups before the intervention, the immediate post-intervention, and follow-up.All 120 patients completed the study. The hope, optimism, resilience, psychological distress, and life satisfaction score of the experimental group were significantly higher than those of the control group at T1 and T2 (P < 0.05). Self-efficacy score of the experimental group had no significant difference at the two time points after the intervention than the control group (P > 0.05). Changes in hope and resilience which belong to psychological capital mediated the intervention's efficacy on changes in PPI on life satisfaction (β = 0.265, P = 0.005; β = 0.686, P = 0.002).PPI could effectively improve psychological capital, psychological distress, and life satisfaction among patients with stomas. Besides, our findings add novel support that increased hope and resilience are the active ingredients that promote intervention change.