Structured Individiual Reminiscence on Self Transcendence of Palliative Care Patients

It is thought that increasing the quality of life of palliative care patients, making sense of the past life and transforming the negative perspective into a positive one, as well as the symptoms seen in the process until death, can contribute positively to the quality of life of the individual. The reason for this is personality development, which he mentioned in the Psychosocial Development Theory, which was introduced in the 1950s. He reported that personality development lasts for a lifetime and consists of eight stages, and the last stage will be hopeless in an individual whose self-integrity is not complete. Because, according to the theory, every individual has accepted all the experiences he has lived in his life as they are, assimilated and adapted to complete the integrity of the self. In this totality, there is no regret for the past, no fear and anxiety for the future. Despair will cause the individual to experience fear of death because death is an inevitable end and should be expected in peace as a natural part of life. Based on this theory, a gerontologist and psychiatrist argued in his 1963 study Life Review that the act of reviewing the past is about integrating and interpreting experiences in the dimension of analyzing the past. After the word reminiscence was derived, studies emerged as Reminiscence Therapy by structuring the review process of life. Although it originally emerged as a psychoanalytic concept, reminiscence therapy has been used as a component of nursing in long-term care settings. Nurses began using Reminiscence Therapy in the late 1960s and published their experiences in the 1970s. At that time, the purpose of nurses in applying Reminiscence Therapy was to help older individuals reframe their experiences and prepare for death. In 1978, a nurse described some of the therapeutic factors of Reminiscence Therapy as identification, socialization, intergenerational sharing, memory stimulation, and self-actualization. As a definition of self-transcendence, it was first defined in British literature by Maslow in 1969 as the highest, most inclusive or holistic consciousness that transcends time, culture and self. Later, Maslow modified the "Hierarchy of Needs" model and reported adding self-actualization as a motivational step. Over time, a middle-class nursing theory named "Self-Transcendence Theory" was developed by Pamela G. Reed (1991). Nursing as a science is thought to be based on the self-transcendence theory developed by Pamela G. Reed for the nursing care they will apply to palliative care patients in a conceptual framework. Because in his theory, Reed argues that individuals who experience chronic illness, loss and aging or who accompany others with these events should face vulnerability. It has been reported that nurses can facilitate the individual's self-transcendence and support the welfare potential of individuals. Meditation, prayer, visualization, life review, structured reminiscence, self-reflection, and journaling are techniques of self-transcendence that nurses can facilitate to help their patients recognize their own patterns of healing. In the light of this information, the aim of this study is to investigate the effect of structured individual reminiscence on symptom management, life satisfaction and self-transcendence of palliative care subordinates.