The Effect of a Remotivation Technique on Nine Selected Nursing Home Patients Diagnosed as Confused

This study was designed to determine the behavior and attitude changes that the remotivation technique produced in nine selected nursing home patients diagnosed as confused by their attending physicians. The Southeast Georgia nursing home residents who participated in this study were women between the ages of sixty-eight and ninety and were selected by the Director of Nursing and their attending physicians. After the definition of confusion had been agreed upon and the patients had been selected, a pre-test was constructed for use by the judges. The pre-test contained nine variables on which each patient was rated by each judge. The variables were: (1) degree of confusion, (2) awareness of current events, (3) logical connection of ideas and concepts, (4) interest in day-to-day living, (5) understandabie speech, (6) knowledge of the average topic, (7) comprehension, (8) participation in the interview, and (9) reading. The nine variables were tested as the nine hypotheses of the study. Each variable had a five-point scale permitting the judges to distinguish as to the degree of confusion in performance by the patients. The five points in order, from the five-point value to the one-point value were: never, seldom, occasionally, frequently, and always. The lower the rating, the more confused the behavior on the variable being considered. The remotivation technique consisted of a series of twelve, one-hour meetings at ten o\u27clock in the morning, Tuesday through Saturday for two consecutive weeks and on Tuesday and Wednesday of the third week. This structured program was based on five specific steps: the climate of acceptance; a bridge to reality; sharing the world we live in; an appreciation of the work of the world; and, the climate of appreciation. After the remotivation sessions had been conducted, the post-test was completed by the same four judges on the same patients, using the same scale of measurement as used in the pre-test, that is, the pre-test and post-test were identical