ABSTRACT
Reminiscence-based activities have become extremely popular in residential homes, hospitals and day centres which provide services for elderly persons suffering from dementia. This popularity seems to arise not so much from convincing empirical evidence of the effects of reminiscence, but rather from it now being implicitly recognized as a valued and enjoyable experience for both elderly persons and staff.
This was not always so. Until recently, reminiscence was seen as a negative attribute of older people: dwelling in the past and repeating stories about the old days was seen as a sign of regression (Coleman, 1986). Butler's (1963) paper on the concept of ‘life review’, a task to be accomplished in the final phase of life, was important in helping reminiscing and life review to be seen in a positive light. Thereafter, the positive functions of reminiscing began to be described both in terms of personal adaptation, and interpersonal or social benefits (Anderson, 1983). It is now recognized that reminiscing is not confined to the elderly, or cognitively impaired elderly, and that it is helpful at any age, particularly during times of transition and change.
The problems involved in evaluating reminiscing-type activities are discussed, and thereafter two studies are described. The first compares the effect of two reminiscence groups, held in different centres, with controlgroup activities. The second study describes how to collect and conduct life reviews with elderly persons with dementia and discusses the usefulness of three tools developed for this study.
