The Effects Of Touch On Depression In Elderly Nursing Home Residents

This was a quasi-experimental study designed to determine the effects of touch on depression in elderly nursing home residents. The null hypothesis stated there would be no significant difference at the .05 level of significance between depressed elders who participated in touch therapy and elders who did not participate in touch therapy. Data were collected from 10 elders, age 65 or older, who were residents of two nursing homes in Northeast Mississippi. All subjects were administered the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) as a pretest/posttest. These scores were then compared using the ^ test at the .05 level of significance. The ^ test was also used to determine any significant relationship among age, sex, and education. None was found. The ^ value obtained, when the posttest GDS means were analyzed between the groups, was ;^(8) = -3.51, p_ = .008 and was significant at the .05 level. Thus, the researcher rejected the null hypothesis. One of the subject\u27s pretest/posttest scores showed a remarkable increase in the level of depression. Therefore, it was decided to measure the dependent change of the pretest/posttest scores. The results between Groups A and B, after Group B received 3- week group touch sessions, demonstrated a trend toward increased depression in Group B, t(8) = 1.69, p = .130