Implementing Sociometry in a Long-Term Care Institutional Setting for the Elderly:

Exploring Social Relationships and Choices

Authors

  • Daniela Simmons, PhD, TEP Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.12926/148mw647

Keywords:

sociometry, gerontology, aging, mental health, long-term care, choice, criteria, spectrogram, locogram, sociometric exploration, sociogram, social atom

Abstract

In this article, I explore the convergence of sociometry and gerontology in order to

demonstrate successful practices and to suggest alternative approaches in interacting with

elderly people, which would result in stabilizing and improving their mental health and

emotional status. As elderly people may experience various psychological conditions,

applying sociometry requires innovative approaches and a certain flexibility in the

application of some of the techniques. The article specifically deals with older adults

residing in long-term care communities and my personal experience in creating and

implementing therapeutic modalities for the older population. In this article, ‘‘older adults’’

are those older than 65 years. The ‘‘elderly’’ are those aged 85flyears. The approaches and

techniques described in this article are adapted and effective for elderly people at any age.

References

Buchanan, D. (1982). Psychodrama: A humanistic approach to psychiatric treatment

for the elderly. Hospital Community Psychiatry, 33(3), 220–223.

Carman, M., & Nordin, S. (1984). Psychodrama: A therapeutic modality for the

elderly in nursing homes. Clinical Gerontology, 3(1), 15–24.

Dayton, T. (2016). Neuropsychodrama in the treatment of relational trauma:

Relational Trauma Repair—An experiential model for treating posttraumatic

stress disorder. The Journal of Psychodrama, Sociometry, and Group

Psychotherapy, 64, 41–50.

Hollander, C. E., & Hollander, S. (1978). Action relationships in learning. Denver,

CO: Snow Lion Press.

Kim, S. D., Jang, H. R., & Lee, W. K. (2005). Cognitive and non-cognitive effects of

psychodrama and sociometry on elderly dementia patients in Korea. Journal of

Korean Medical Science, 20(4), 529–705.

Kole, D. M. (1967). The spectrogram in psychodrama. Retrieved from http://

moreno.com.au/spectrogram-psychodrama (Reprinted from Group

Psychotherapy, XX(1–2), 53–61, 1967)

Moreno, J. L. (1937). Sociometry in relation to other social sciences. Sociometry, 1(1–

, 206–219.

Moreno, J. L. (1953). Who shall survive? (2nd ed.). Beacon, NY: Beacon House.

O˘guzhano˘glu, K. (2005). The elderly, nursing homes and life voyages: A

psychodrama group study. Turkish Journal of Psychiatry, 16(2), 124–132.

U.S. Census Bureau. (n.d.). 2012 National Population Projections and 2012 National

Projections. Washington, DC: Author. Retrieved from http://www.census.gov/

population/projections/data/national/2012.html

Downloads

Published

2026-01-22

Issue

Vol. 65 No. 1 (2017): Journal of Psychodrama, Sociometry, & Group Psychotherapy

Section

Theory and History

License

Copyright (c) 2024 Journal of Psychodrama, Sociometry, and Group Psychotherapy

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

You are free to:

  1. Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
  2. The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.

Under the following terms:

  1. Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
  2. NonCommercial — You may not use the material for commercial purposes.
  3. NoDerivatives — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material.
  4. No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.

Notices:

You do not have to comply with the license for elements of the material in the public domain or where your use is permitted by an applicable exception or limitation.

No warranties are given. The license may not give you all of the permissions necessary for your intended use. For example, other rights such as publicity, privacy, or moral rights may limit how you use the material.