S.A. Osman Ali - Assistant Professor of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Suez Canal University, Et.
N. Kamel - Assistant professor of Psychiatric and Mental health Nursing, Alexandria University, Egypt
S.L. Holmes - PhD, RN, CHPE, CHSE, CPHQ, NE-BC, NPD-BC, EBP-C. Fundamentals of Magnet ® Certificate Holder. Nursing Researcher-King Fahad Specialist Hospital – Dammam
A.E. Abdelfatah Arafat - Lecturer of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Zagazig University, Egypt

psychological distress and sleep quality among older peoplechr('۳۹')s during COVID ۱۹ pandemic. Instrument and methods: A quasi-experimental research design was used to achieve the aim of this study. ۹۵ elders, recruited randomly as follows; ۵۰ from Geriatric social club in Zagazig City, ۲۰ from El-Resala geriatric house in Zagazig City, and ۲۵ from geriatric home in Met Ghamr City. Three tools were utilized for data collection, namely, Interview questionnaire sheet, Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS) for measuring depression, anxiety as well as stress, and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) for measuring sleep quality. Findings: More than three-quarters of the participants had chronic diseases. The majority had unsatisfactory knowledge about Bensonchr('۳۹')s Relaxation Technique at the pre-intervention phase. Two thirds of elders had severe depression level; slightly less than two thirds had severe anxiety, about three quarters had severe stress at the pre-intervention phase with statistical significant reduction post intervention phase. The majority had poor sleep quality (۹۷.۹%) at the pre-intervention phase, which decreased at the post-intervention phase to ۵۰.۵%. Conclusion: This study concluded that. Bensonchr('۳۹')s Relaxation Technique have great effect on psychological distress and sleep quality of elderly people. Gero-psychiatric nurses should encourage elderly people to apply BRT for enhancement of their psychological wellbeing.  

Anxiety, Benson's Relaxation technique, Depression, Elderly, Sleep, quality Stress.