P116: Reminiscence Therapy Efficacy in Reducing Symptoms of Anxiety in Elderly Nursing Home Residents in Tehran

Getting old is not a sickness. It is actually a social-personal experience and one of the sensitive and vital stages of human development that is regarded as a normal trend of passing of life. Anxiety is among the major problems of senescent period. Research shows that the memory of group treatment among the elderly is not only useful but also considered as a type of treatment. This method helps the elderly to cope with the disasters and changes during their life and with what they have missed and to accept the present condition by resolving the previous conflicts. Also, the aim of this study is to determine the efficacy of the memory of group treatment on reduction of anxiety signs among the elderly. As a start, a number of 30 elderly people were accidentally chosen from Kahrizak nursing-home in Tehran. Having received population information, their anxiety status was measured using Beck anxiety questionnaire. Then, they were divided into experiment and control groups. The first group (n=15) were under the memory of the group treatment and the second group (n=15), as control group, received no treatment. After finishing the treatment period, the anxiety rate of the people was measured. The results of co-variance analysis show that there is a meaningful difference between these two groups in such a way that the anxiety score in treated group has been decreased, comparing that of control group. Regarding these findings, we find that the method of memory of group treatment significantly influences the anxiety among the elderly living at the nursing-homes.