The therapeutic role of a structured life review process in homebound elderly subjects

This study examined the therapeutic role of a structured life review process in a randomly selected group of 60 homebound elderly subjects. Subjects were placed in three groups and tested on four dependent variables at the beginning and end of an 8-week period. These variables were life satisfaction, psychological well-being, depression, and activities of daily living (ADL). One group, the experimental group, received the treatment of life review process; another, the control group, received a friendly visit; and the third, the no-treatment group, received pretests and posttests only. Two dependent variables, life satisfaction, as operationalized by the Life Satisfaction Index A (LSIA), and psychological well-being, as operationalized by the Affect-Balance Scale (ABS), were significant in the experimental group when tested statistically through analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). These results suggest that a structured process of life review can serve as a therapeutic intervention for homebound elderly persons. THE concept of life review as a universal adaptive processnaturally occurring in old age was identified more than 20 years ago by Butler (1963). Butler later (1974) saw the life review process as a means to successful reintegration, which provided new significance and meaning to an individ-ual's life. Reintegration through life review has been likened to Erikson's eighth stage of integrity (Erikson, 1950), and a