Touching Is Talking

Abstract

no light falls on hooded brain, On heart(1). .... These lines about an old woman sitting in sun describe my reaction day I began group work with six aged patients, all diagnosed as having chronic brain syndrome. This diagnosis was one criterion for membership in group. I had requested to work with six patients, three men and three women. They were all confined to a locked unit in an L facility, a light mental facility. The youngest member was 64, eldest 86, and mean age was 78. The group was to be closed, but I planned to add individuals as members were transferred or died. Initially, my goals were to increase stimuli for these patients to see if their levels of response or coherence could be changed even slightly, to reality test consistently, and to use as an adjunct to My last objective fell by wayside after first meeting when I discovered that these patients received five meals daily. On only day when I could meet with them, they were scheduled to eat immediately after session. So my third objective was out. During our first meeting, I wondered where to begin, since I wanted to use a constant theme with these people i hope that it would provide some structure. I went around circle and shook hands, holding each person's hand tightly and trying to maintain close, intense eye contact. I came to last frail little lady. She was babbling, her eyes were closed, and I suddenly doubted my ability to offer much of anything to these people with shuttered hearts. But then a shutter moved in this tiny woman. As I held her hand with its tissue-paper skin, she pulled my head down to her a d kissed me tenderly on cheek. At that moment I substituted therapy for food therapy. This was best example of hunger I had seen in a long while. I was influenced by Ruth McCor-kle's thesis that the nurse must be aware that touching a patient can convey a message to him .... If communication is to be effective, nurse must perceive nurse's touch as a concern for caring for him(2). The location for group meetings with regressed elderly should be chosen carefully. Any extraneous noise interferes with their hearing and comprehension. Their attention spans are short so other distractions must be avoided when group leader is working inMS. BURNSIDE is coordinator for nursing education, Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center, University of California, Los Angeles. She was graduated from Ancker Hospital School of Nursing, St. Paul, Minn., and received her B.F.A. degree from University of Denver, Colo., and an M.S. degree and a post-master's certificate in psychiatric nursing from University of California, San Francisco. Ms. Burnside received support from NIMH contract 52-2403-8026 while writing this paper. She is grateful to Natalie Donahue, R.N., and W. Lee Towns, administrator, and staff for their support and assistance.