The participants in the intervention group received reminiscence therapy which was implemented by the researcher as one session per week for eight weeks. In the reminiscence sessions, mnemonic materials selected specifically for the determined interview topic were used. In the sessions, topics such as childhood life, work life, religious holidays, national holidays, old songs, military ceremonies, wedding ceremonies, gardening and field work were shared. In the reminiscence sessions, the participants were encouraged to verbally express the feelings and thoughts they remembered about the mnemonics. The interviews were recorded by the researcher and each session lasted 45-60 minutes. At the end of the reminiscence session, the topics addressed in the session were summarized by the researcher.

Interviews were conducted with the individuals in the control group on a designated day of the week, at a designated place in the nursing home. The researcher interviewed the individuals in the control group once a week for eight weeks. During these meetings, daily issues and events such as health, sports, and weather were discussed. Each of the mentioned interviews lasted 45-60 minutes. At the end of eight weeks, SMMT and the "Multidimensional Observation Scale for Elderly Individuals" were implemented again to the participants in the intervention and control groups.

Reminiscence sessions were held in a meeting room in the nursing home and arranged in accordance with the interviews. In the reminiscence sessions, mnemonic materials selected specifically for the determined interview topic were used. The materials to be used in the reminiscence sessions were determined in accordance with the education level and cultural characteristics of the participants. In the sessions, topics such as childhood life, work life, religious holidays, national holidays, old songs, military ceremonies, wedding ceremonies, gardening and field work were shared. In the reminiscence sessions, the participants were encouraged to verbally express the feelings and thoughts they remembered about the mnemonics. The interviews were recorded by the researcher and each session lasted 45-60 minutes. At the end of the reminiscence session, the topics addressed in the session were summarized by the researcher, the following weeks topic was determined and the interview was concluded.

Developed by Folstein et al., SMMT is a short, useful, and standardized assessment tool that can be used to determine the cognitive level globally. The test consists of five subsections: orientation of time and space, recording memory, attention, recall, and language. MMSE can be applied by physicians, nurses, and psychologists in a short time. The highest score that can be obtained in MMSE is 30. In the test, a score of 24-30 points is considered normal, 20-23 mild dementia, 10-19 moderate dementia, and 0-9 advanced dementia (Folstein et al. 1975). The validity and reliability study of the test for Turkish population was completed by Güngen et al. (2002).

MOSES is a multi-dimensional measurement tool developed by Helmes, Csapo, and Short to evaluate the functionality of older adults (Helmeset al., 1987). The scale consists of 40 questions and provides evaluation in 5 functional sub-dimension areas. The dimensions of the scale are Self-Care , Disorientation , Depressed/Anxious Mood, Irritable behavior, and Withdrawal from society. Each item in the scale is scored between 0 and 4. Twenty-two items of the scale have 4 choices and 18 items have 5 choices. The last option in the five-choice items was created with the thought that the older adult would not be able to answer the question and/or the question would not be suitable for the older adult. The lowest score that can be obtained from the scale is 0, and the highest score is 138. A low score indicates that the functionality of the older adult is high, while a high score indicates that the functionality of the older adult is low (Helmes et al. 1987).