Sociotherapy in a nursing home: idle hope or hopeless vanity
Sociotherapy is defined as follows: human social behavior, therefore the develop and the expressions of his (psycho) pathology can't been seen loose from its context inwhich this manifest. On that line of argument count equally the mentally deranged aged persons unless one sees the growing-old people as a closed system. There are formulated five objectives in employing sociotherapy in a nursing home:
- to learn the staff to think in terms of interaction individual-milieu.
- to advance an interaction level as favourable as possible.
- to advance a most favourable activity- and autonomy-leve with the patients.
- the change of attitude with the staff.
- to involve the family in the nursing home-happenings.
Intervention in social network traditionally is the focus of sociotherapy. But networks like these are also a result of the formal organizationstructure of the nursing home. One should therefore also intervene sociotherapeutically if it concerns the workstructure, the authoritystructure and the communicationstructure. In conclusion is also indicate the necessity for further schooling of the staff mainly focused on the change of attitude.