AWARENESS OF FORGETTING: RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN MOOD, HEALTH, TASK PERFORMANCE AND MEMORY MONITORING IN ELDERLY NURSING HOME RESIDENTS.
Contributors: Boston College.
Published: 1991
Number of pages: 125
Subjects: Psychology, Clinical.; Gerontology.
Description: Previous research on metamemory has attempted to establish biological, psychological, and sociological correlates of accurate and inaccurate self-assessments of memory with the goal of understanding age-related impairments in the ability to engage in "effortful processing." The purpose of this study was to evaluate metamemorial accuracy in a nursing home population and to examine relationships between metamemory and mood, health, years of institutionalization and premorbid functioning.

The sample consisted of 87 nursing home residents, 70 female and 17 male, ranging in age from 75 to 99. Information about demographic factors and health status was gathered from medical records, performance data from a brief cognitive battery, mood by administering the Dementia Mood Assessment Scale, and metamemory using the Memory Functioning Questionnaire.

No relationship between institutionalization and either performance or self-assessment was demonstrated, and nursing home residents were found to resemble community-living elderly in metamemorial accuracy. Depressed subjects had significantly more memory complaints than non-depressed subjects but not significantly more performance deficits, while poor health was associated with global deficiencies in performance but not increased reports of forgetfulness. Higher educational and occupational levels were significantly related to both better performance and more positive self-assessment; higher occupational level was associated with greater awareness of memory changes retrospectively and increased use of mnemonics.

The findings indicate that nursing home residents resemble community-living elderly in metamemorial ability and that the relationship between increased forgetfulness and self-awareness is mediated in complex ways. Poor health had the strongest relationship to impaired performance, while depressed affect had the strongest relationship to memory complaints. Higher premorbid functioning had the strongest relationship to better performance, greater awareness of forgetfulness, and use of compensatory strategies, while currently poor health or impaired abstract ability had the strongest relationship to reduced self-awareness and lack of compensatory effort. The findings emphasize that accurate diagnosis and treatment of geriatric memory complaints depends upon assessment of not just patient self-report but also performance, mood, health, and past history.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 52-08, Section: B, page: 4465.

Thesis (PH.D.)--BOSTON COLLEGE, 1991.

School code: 0016.