Gerontology & Geriatric Research

Abstract

Effectiveness of Structured Reminiscence Group Psychotherapy in Elderly Care

Harasankar Adhikari

Background and objective: In the current social scenario, the growing elderly population is facing multifarious problems in the absence of proper care and attention by their family members, and others after their retirement. They are being shifted from the family environment to old age homes. It is a new set-up where this homogenous group in terms of the age can particularly avail care outside their family. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of Structured Reminiscence Group Psychotherapy (SRGP) in social work practice with the elderly.

Method: Sixty elderly persons aged 60–80 years were selected from two old age homes located in rural West Bengal, which were run by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the assistance with the Government of India. Half of them were randomly assigned to the experimental group and the other half to the control group.

Result and conclusion: In both the groups, the mental health of the elderly was found to be either very poor (26.6%) or poor (48.3%) during the pre-test. There was a significantly greater increase (p< 0.001) in the level of mental health for those who participated in the treatment group (SRGP) compared with those in the control group. Furthermore, there was a significant association on pre-test (p < 0.001) and post-test (p > 0.05) between level of mental health and educational level of the control group.