THE ABILITY OF ELDERLY NURSING HOME RESIDENTS TO BENEFIT FROM A RATIONAL BEHAVIORAL GROUP COUNSELING PROGRAM

• Main Author: WELLMAN, LAWRENCE EUGENE
• Format: Dissertation
• Language: English
• Published: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses 01-01-1983
• Subjects: Clinical psychology; Psychotherapy
• ISBN: 9798204921429

This study examined the effects of a structured time limited group counseling program based upon the principles of Rational Behavior Therapy. The primary goal of the group treatment was to teach elderly nursing home residents to take control of their perceptions about themselves, as measured by Maultsby's "Your Irrational Personality Trait Inventory Score" (YIPTIS). Three groups, two experimental and one control, each comprised of 15 elderly nursing home residents were randomly selected from a nursing center. To be considered eligible to participate in the project, the subjects had to be at least 58 years old and ambulatory to the extent of being able to attend group meetings. All the subjects were administered the YIPTIS once a week for a period of 13 weeks. Mean scores were calculated for each group on a weekly basis. In addition, two of the groups were involved in group counseling during the 13-week period. The first group attended twice a week one-hour group counseling sessions for seven weeks for a total of 14 hours of group counseling. The focus of this group was the application of Rational Behavior Therapy techniques. The second group also attended twice a week one-hour counseling sessions for a period of seven weeks resulting in a total of 14 hours of group counseling. This group was an attention group and the sessions focused on areas of interest to the subjects. The control group participated in the regular nursing center program and was not involved in any counseling groups. The only special activity that these subjects participated in was completing the YIPTIS once a week for 13 weeks. The results of the study indicated that all three groups lowered their mean YIPTIS scores over the 13-week period, and analysis of variance between the groups was not significant at the .05 level. It was concluded that there was insufficient data to make any definite conclusions regarding the ability of elderly nursing center residents to benefit from rational behavior group counseling.