A comparative study of the effect of group memory telling and group talk on the level of happiness of the elderly living in the elderly nursing home Download PDF

Background and Objective: One of the basic concepts in positive psychology is happiness. Happiness is the most fundamental human issue for all generations and the most important motive for human goals. Memory telling is an easy and accessible way for improving mental health and increasing happiness. The current study was conducted aiming at comparing the effect of group memory telling in the form of group talk on the level of happiness of the elderly living in the nursing home for the elderly mother of Sabzevar. Materials and Methods: The method of the present study is a double-grouped randomized clinical trial and a research population covers all elderly living in the nursing home for the elderly mother of Sabzevar..41 elderly people were selected using availability sampling method. The research subjects were randomly assigned to the control and intervention groups. Memory telling was held one session a week, and each session was one hour and continued for 8 weeks. To eliminate the effects of the group, a group discussion on daily issues was held every week for one hour and 8 weeks for the control group. Happiness rate was measured using Oxford Happiness Questionnaire (OHQ) in two steps before and immediately after intervention. SPSS software version 16 was used to analyze the data. The statistical tests used included: Mann-Whithney, T-test, Wilcoxon and Shapiro Wilk. Findings: The research findings demonstrated that the mean score of happiness before intervention in the intervention group was 15.66 ± 15.53 and 26.55 ± 25.14 for the control group. The mean score of happiness after intervention changed and it became 48.97 ± 27.15 in the intervention group and 54.15 ± 26.88 in the control group. The value of P-value for the happiness variable after intervention was 0/537. Considering the results obtained through Wilcoxon test and in the two groups (intervention and control) and in the variable of happiness rate, the value of p-value was 0.05, it was found that the result obtained from the intervention in the memory telling group did not have any significant difference with the result achieved via intervention in the group talk group. Conclusion: According to the findings of this study, there is no difference between the effect of group memory telling and group talk on increasing the level of happiness in the elderly. Then, what can be important and helpful in increasing the happiness of the elderly is to form a group and having joint talks.