Interpersonal skill training with institutionalized elderly patients.

A behavioral program to train elderly nursing home patients in interpersonal skills was systematically developed and evaluated. Data obtained from intensive interviews with patients, staff, and professionals were used to construct a training program and self-report and behavioral measures for assessing the program's effectiveness. Twenty-five patients were randomly assigned to the training program or to one of two control condotions. On a behavioral measure of responses to situations that had been included in training, the Skill Training program was superior to the control conditions. However, learning failed to generalize to novel situations. Directions for future skill training research are discussed.