Effects of Group Reminiscence Therapy on Depression of the Elderly Residing at Home

집단회고요법이 재가노인의 우울에 미치는 효과

The purpose of this study is to exmine the effects of reminiscence therapy on deprssion of the elderly residing at home. The subjects were sampled from the members of senior citizens' centres located in Kwangju City. Total number was 73, 38 for the control group and 35 for the experimental group. The study was carried out after a non-equivalent pretest-posttest design. Data were collected from 23 Jun. to 11 Nov. 1993. Reminiscence therapy was applied only to the experimental group. once a week for 6 weeks. Depression level was measured by the questionnaire before and after treatment given. The results were as follows: 1. Religion and family-attachment among socioeconomic charactiristics were significantly different with the level of depression. 2. Religion and pocket - money provider among socioeconomic charactiristics were significantly different with the level of life-satisfaction. 3. The relationship between depression and life -satisfaction was a significant negative correlation(r=-0.777, P=0.000). 4. The depression level of the experimental group was significantly decreased after the treatment as contrasted with that of control group(P=0.004). On the basis of this study it can be concluded that reminiscence therapy reduces depression level.