The Effects of a Reality Therapy Program for the Elderly with Depressive Disorder

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to develop a Reality Therapy program for the elderly with depressive disorder, and then examine the effects of the developed program. Methods: This study used ‘non-equivalence control group pretest-posttest design’. The participants were forty-eight elderly who were on medication treatment with depressive disorder. Twenty-two participants were assigned to the experimental group and twenty-six ones were assigned to the control group. A 10-session Reality Therapy program was provided to the experimental group. The data were collected from September to December in 2012. Dependent variables were self-esteem, internal control, and depression. Results: The scores of self-esteem for the experimental group were significantly increased compared to the control group (t=-4.87, p<.001). The scores of depression for the experimental group were significantly decreased compared to the control group (t=3.61, p=.001). However, there was no significant change on the scores of internal control between the two groups. Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that the Reality Therapy program is effective in increasing self-esteem and decreasing depression for the elderly with depressive disorder.