2001 Volume 67 Issue 2 Pages 55-67
Background: Our feelings are known to influence our physical condition . In psychological research, the Semantic Differential Technique (SD technique) is used to measure images subjects produce of themselves based on their emotions, feelings and background. We applied this method to measuring the life images of patients in a geriatric hospital.Methods and Results: In 1995, individual interviews using the SD technique were carried out on 94 patients (31 men and 63 women, 50-96 y/o) in a geriatric hospital in Shimizu City . The interviews were based on two concepts; self image (SI), and hospital life image (HI). The scales consisted of 34 paired adjectives with opposite meanings and each scale had 7 degrees. Factor analysis identified the following 4 factors, specificity of oneself, active state, functions of living and human relations. Each factor showed a high average value from 4.56 to 5.25, thus indicating a favorable condition. The average for the first factor was SI: 5.13, sd 0.97, HI: 5.22, sd 1.08, that of the second factor was SI: 4.38, sd 1.21, HI: 4.93, sd 1.09, that of the third factor was SI: 5.05, sd 1.10, HI: 5.24, sd 1.20 and that of the fourth factor was SI: 4.97, sd 1.15, HI: 5.41, sd 1.16. The average image of hospital life was higher than that of the self image. These data indicate that hospitalized patients have positive feelings about their hospital lives. Women were also shown to be better at human interrelationships than men.Conclusion: The average subjective image and in-hospital life image was high, suggesting that the elderly have a positive self-image and that they feel comfortable at the hospital. Future research needs to establish whether these positive self images can be generalized to the population as a whole, or whether they are specific to the elderly.
