EFFECTIVENESS OF REMINISCENCE THERAPY IN REDUCING DEPRESSION AMONG THE ELDERLY CLIENTS

Abstract

Abstract:

Elderly people are suffering with many physical, social, emotional and psychological problems which enhance the level of depression. Hence, reminiscence therapy is an intervention which involves the elderly in the active recollection of life experiences. It allows them to relieve personal events from their past in a way that is a vivid and engaging, and encourages them to communicate those experiences to a listener. Interaction with objects and images from the past aids the recollection of memories. The objectives of the study were to identify the socio demographic variables of elderly people, to assess the pre-test level of depression before reminiscence therapy intervention, to evaluate the post-test level of depression after reminiscence therapy, to determine the effectiveness of reminiscence therapy intervention by reducing depression among elderly clients and to find association between post-test scores in reduction of depression with the selected demographic variables. Quantitative approach with pre-experimental one group pre and post-test design was used. A total of 60 samples were enlisted by using convenient sampling technique. The structured geriatric depression scale was used to find out the level of depression. The reminiscence therapy steps were given using reminiscence kit for a period of one month.The finding of the study revealed that depression is decreased with paired t-test P value 0.001. There is a statistical significance in the effectiveness of reminiscence therapy decreases depression among elderly clients.The study concluded that nurse’s role in managing the depression is mandatory. Through reminiscence therapy, the elderly client’sdepression had got reduced 27.9%. So this reduction in depression level reflects the effectiveness of reminiscence therapy.