The psychological impact of amniocentesis on women and their spouses does not constitute a major obstacle to their ability to cope. However, a certain number of couples reported feelings of uncertainty, tension and anxiety about fetal injury. We strongly suggest that counseling should be given to high-risk families and that prenatal/antenatal care units must be established.

<h4>ABSTRACT</h4> <P>Crying may be described as a loss of control, the result of feelings of helplessness and inadequacy, or a sign of suffering. It may occur in a variety of situations, such as unhappiness, sadness, illness, death, anxiety, pain, or failure, but it can also arise from joy and fulfillment. Crying is frequently observed in hospitals. The aim of this study was to determine the crying patterns of undergraduate medical and nursing students. The study design included non-experimental, descriptive research using a self-report questionnaire. Of the 130 students who completed the questionnaire, 90 were medical students and 40 were nursing students. Seventy-nine of the students were women, and 51 were men. All of the students were in their last semester of study.</P> <P>Many of the medical and nursing students reported having cried in a hospital. Of students who had cried, 90% were women, and 10% were men. Medical students usually cried outside the hospital setting, whereas nursing students usually cried in the nurses’ room. Personal problems faced by students during their education were the primary reason for crying. Although more than half of the students felt relaxed after crying, only the nursing students sought comfort from the people around them. These findings should be useful in the development and continuous improvement of the curricula of medical and nursing students.</P> <h4>AUTHORS</h4> <P>Received: March 1, 2005</P> <P>Accepted: August 29, 2005</P> <P>Dr. Kukulu is Assistant Professor, and Mr. Keser is Lecturer, School of Health, Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey.</P> <P>Data were collected by Mr. Keser under the supervision of Dr. Kukulu; both authors were involved in data analysis and writing up the findings. The authors acknowledge the medical and nursing students at Akdeniz University for participating in this research. This study received external funding from the Scientific Research Center at Akdeniz University.</P> <P>Address correspondence to Kamile Kukulu, PhD, Assistant Professor, Akdeniz University, School of Health, 07058 Antalya, Turkey; e-mail: <a href="mailto:kkamile@akdeniz.edu.tr">kkamile@akdeniz.edu.tr</a>.</P>

Background: Reminiscence therapy is one of various interventions that can be made to protect and improve the mental health of the elderly. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of individual reminiscence therapy given during home visits on adaptation difficulties. Method: This was a randomized controlled, single-blind study designed with a pretest-post-test and follow-up pattern. We divided the participants, 65 elderly people living in Isparta, Turkey, by simple randomization into intervention (31) and control (34) groups. Individual reminiscence therapy was applied to the intervention group participants for eight weeks during house visits once a week. The weekly topics of the reminiscence therapy included childhood, business life, married life, old items, holidays, traditional dishes, and songs and movies, and were all culture-specific. No intervention was applied to the control group. Study data were collected by using a Sociodemographic Data Form created by the researchers, the Assessment Scale of Adaptation Difficulty for the Elderly (ASADE), and the Nurses' Observation Scale for Geriatric Patients (NOSGER). Pretest, post-test, and follow-up data were collected at the individuals' homes in face-to-face interviews.Results: After the eight-week course of reminiscence therapy, there was a significant decrease in the ASADE mean score for the intervention group (P = 0.003) and a significant increase for the control group (P < 0.001). Significant increases were also found in the mean NOSGER scores for the intervention (P = 0.039) and control (P < 0.001) groups; however, the score increase was higher for the control than for the intervention group. Also, there was a significant difference in the ASADE (P < 0,001) and NOSGER (P = 0.01) mean scores of the intervention and control groups. Conclusion: This study found that individual reminiscence therapy decreased adaptation difficulties in the elderly.

Bu çalışmanın amacı, ruhsal hastalığı olan ebeveynlerin çocuklarının yaşam deneyimlerinin araştırıldığı kalitatif çalışmaları tanımlamak ve sistematik olarak incelemektir. Bu çalışma, ebeveyninde ruhsal hastalık olan çocukların benzer dramatik deneyimler yaşadıklarını göstermiştir. Bu deneyimlerin çocukların baş etme becerisi geliştirmesi, zorlayıcı yaşam olaylarına dayanıklılık göstermesi ve ruh sağlığını koruması yönünden olumsuz etkileri olabilmektedir. Tüm bu olumsuzluklara karşın, bazı çocukların erken olgunlaşma ve içsel gelişim nedeniyle, özgüvenlerinin geliştiği, bağımsızlıklarının arttığı ve daha dayanıklı oldukları da belirtilmektedir. Çalışmamızın sonuçları, ruhsal hastalığı olan ebeveynlerin çocuklarını ve diğer aile üyelerini bilgilendirecek, baş etme becerilerini güçlendirecek, mevcut hizmetlere ulaşımı kolaylaştıracak bir dizi müdahale programının oluşturulmasının ve bu programları yürütecek özel bir insan gücü yetiştirilmesinin önemini ortaya koymuştur.

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