The effect of reminiscence therapy on adaptation difficulty in the elderly

Objective: The aim of this study was evaluate the effect of individual reminiscence therapy on adaptation difficulties of elderly individuals. Methods: The sample of study consisted of older than 65 years of age who belong to Kurtuluş Family Health Center in Isparta. This is randomized controlled trial designed as a pre-test/post-test. The application of study was carried out in individuals' homes. Follow-up evaluation was performed at end of the 2nd month following the completion of the interviews. The data of study was obtained by Sociodemographic Data Form, The Assesment of Adaptation Difficulty in Elder Scale (TAADES), The Nurses' Observation Scale for Geriatric Patients (NOSGER) and weekly 7-week reminiscence therapy interviews. At the end of the study, the data of 65 individuals (31 interventions, 34 controls) were analyzed. The analysis was performed by Mann-Whitney U and Friedman's Two-Way analysis for repeated measurements. Results: Of the intervention group, 52.5% were males and 42.5% were between the ages of 65-74 and 87.5% were married. As a result of the seven-week reminiscence therapy interviews, a significant decrease in the mean TAADES scores of the intervention group (p = 0.003); a significant increase in the mean scores of the control group (p <0.001); there was a significant increase in the mean scores of NOSGER in the intervention (p = 0.039) and control (p <0.001) groups. However, it was found that the increase in score in the control group was higher than the increase in score in the intervention group. Conclusion: The findings suggest that reminiscence therapy in individual and home settings reduces the difficulty of adaptation in elderly. As an effective intervention in geropsychiatric care, reminiscence therapy is thought to have important role in individualized home care. In this context, the use of reminiscence therapy as nursing intervention in geropsychiatric care is recommended. Key words: elderly, adaptation, geriatric nursing, psychiatric nursing, reminiscence therapy