집단회상이 노인의 심리적 안녕에 미치는 영향에 관한 연구 = The Effect of a Group Reminiscence on the Psychological Well-Being of the Elderly

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Reminiscence has been defined by many scholars as the consideration of one's especially meaningful past experience (McMahon & Rhudick,1961). As the past remembered by reflecting oneself historically, or as the normal life review of general and developing matters and the internal experience or mental process reviewing one unconscious and unchosen life (Butler, 1964). And this reminiscence is actively being used in solving the psychological problems and increase psychological well-being of the elderly.
This study attempts to identify the usefulness and feasibility of the group reminiscence to give it a solid foundation as a technique of nursing intervention. For this, this study raises such questions as 1) Will the group reminiscence have any effect on the psychological well-being of the elderly? 2) Will the effect of the group reminiscence be affected by locus of control in personality? 3) How is the psychological well-being of the elderly women and what variables will affect it?, and to work out above questions it tries to 1) analyze the effect of the group reminiscence 2) clarify the relation between the group reminiscence and locus of control personality 3) confirm the level of aged women's psychological well-being and the variables influencing it, which are the goals of this study.
Non-equivalent control group with a pre-post test design was used in the study, and the group reminiscence was tested with experimental group which has tested the reminiscence and the control group which has not. For the variables which influence the effect, internal-external locus of control in personality and demographic variables were also measured.
A total of 80 women aged over 60 were studied who were registered from October, 1989 to July, 1990 in E consultation office located at Changan-dong, Dongdaemoon-ku, Seoul, Korea, which included 40 women who tested the group reminiscence (Experimental group) and other 40 women who didn't (Control group).
As for the tool for this study, a group reminiscence schedule devised by the researcher was used to practice the session, a life satisfaction, a life satisfaction scale (Yoon, 1982) and Zung's (1974) depression status inventory(DSI), which has been translated by the researcher and was used after a due pilot study and reliability test to measure the effect of the group reminiscence, and to measure the basic character of the elderly Cha et al.'s(1973) internal-external locus of control in personality, and a inventory for measuring demographic variables.
As for the process of the study, demographic variables, blood pressure, life-satisfaction, depression status, and internal-external locus of control were tested with both the experimental and control group a week prior to the group reminiscence. And total 6 sessions of the group reminiscence was performed to the experimental group for an hour at a time once a week from the first to the sixth week.
A week after the finish of the group reminiscence of 6 sessions life satisfaction and depression status of the each group were measured. Each experimental group had a group reminiscence session with the researcher and two assistant researchers once a week for 6 weeks, and the number of reminiscence group was five, which consisted of 8-12 members. The contents of group reminiscence of the experimental groups were all recorded in the tape recorder, and were used as materials for the analysis of group reminiscence with the record of other details.
The data analysis of this study was computerized by using SPSS/PC+, and the homogeneity which may be affected by various variables was verified with Chi-square and t-test, the reliability of the tools with Cronbach's α, the comparison of life satisfaction and depression status according to locus of control in personality and demographic variables with ANCOVA, respectively.
Descriptive statistics of frequency and distribution were used in analyzing of the content of reminiscence.
The result of this study can be summarized as follows.
1. The effect of group reminiscence
1) The life satisfaction of the experimental group was higher than of control group(P<0.05). Therefore it was made clear that the group reminiscence can surely increase the life satisfaction of the elderly.
2) The depression status of the experimental group was reduced compared with control group, but it was not statistically significant.
3) The group reminiscence according to the characteristics of Internal-External locus of control in personality had no significant effect on the psychological well-being either in the experimental or control group.
2. The demographic variables influence psychological well-being(life satisfaction).
The one's health status perceived subjectively and of one's economic status turned out to be demographic variables that influence the psychological well-being (life satisfaction)(P<.01). The group reminiscence, however proved to affect the psychological well-being affirmatively without being influenced by the above two variables(P<.01).
The significance of this study through the above results shows that the grasp of the level psychological well-being of elderly woman of in Korea can present an effective way for finding out the psychological well-being state of the elderly at the time of care them afterwards, and the group reminiscence attempted first in Korea can be a good nursing intervention in that it increased the life satisfaction of the elderly.
Besides the fact that the one's health status perceived subjectively and of one's economic status proved to be variables influencing the psychological well-being explains it is the physical, social and financial factors rather than one's character such as a locus of control in personality that affect the psychological well-being of the elderly. And it is confirmed that to maintain the psychological well-being and to increase their mental health, the nursing intervention strategy for the elderly is necessary and important for holistic well-being of the elderly in psychological, physical, social respects etc., and therefore that the assessment and intervention in whole sides are absolutely important for the gero-psychiatric nursing process of the elderly.