THE RELATION OF GENERAL FORGIVENESS AND FORGIVENESS TYPE TO REPORTED HEALTH IN THE ELDERLY (GERIATRICS).
Contributors: Catholic University of America.
Published: 1984
Number of pages: 195
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.; Gerontology.
Description: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship of forgiveness to health in the elderly. Four forgiveness scales addressing general forgiveness and three forgiveness types (role expected, expedient and intrinsic), were used to measure forgiveness. Health was measured by means of one life satisfaction scale and six health scales measuring physical health, mental health, economic resources, social resources, activities of daily living, and overall health.

Respondents consisted of a random sample of 59 elderly persons living in two residential centers for senior citizens.

Hypotheses tested were: (H(,1)) Elderly individuals manifesting higher general forgiveness scores will report better health than those manifesting lower scores. (H(,2)) Forgiveness types will be associated with differences in reported health among a sample of elderly people. (H(,3)) Elderly individuals manifesting the intrinsic forgiveness type will report better health than those manifesting the role expected type. (H(,4)) Elderly individuals manifesting the intrinsic forgiveness type will report better health than those manifesting the expedient type.

Finding supported H(,1) and did not support H(,2), H(,3), and H(,4). The Pearson Product Moment correlation statistic, however, did reveal that higher scores in intrinsic forgiveness were associated with higher reported health outcomes in the areas of physical health and activities of daily living.

A central limitation of the study concerned the homogeneity of the sample which, by its nature, did not allow for sufficient variance among forgiveness types. Implications of this study were related to the areas of nursing practice, education and research.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 45-06, Section: B, page: 1733.

Thesis (D.N.SC.)--THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA, 1984.

School code: 0043.