TRAUMATISED OLDER PERSONS’ EXPERIENCES OF EYE MOVEMENT INTEGRATION AS TRAUMA INTERVENTION

Abstract

The world’s population is ageing and older people may be exposed to traumatic experiences during their lifetime. Symptoms are often regarded as part of the ageing process and not treated as trauma. Little is known about eye movement integration (EMI) as intervention for symptoms of trauma in older people. This article reports on older people’s experience of EMI as an intervention for their symptoms of trauma. The qualitative study employed an exploratory-descriptive research design with a purposive sampling method. Participants considered EMI as positive and beneficial. Suggestions are made to improve EMI when working with older people.

Keywords

• age
• ageing
• eye movement integration (emi)
• older person
• post-traumatic stress disorder (ptsd)
• trauma