Impact of the Life Review Program on Elders with Dementia: A Preliminary Study at a Day Care Center in Southern Taiwan

• Published in: The Journal of Nursing Research Vol. 19; no. 3; pp. 199 - 209
• Main Authors: 林儷蓉(Li-Jung Lin), 李冠逸(Kuan-Yi Li), Carla E. S. Tabourne
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: China (Republic : 1949- ) 台灣護理學會 01.09.2011; Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Inc
• Subjects: Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Day Care, Medical; Dementia - nursing; Female; Humans; Male; Quality of Life; Taiwan; Taiwan; life review; 生命回顧; 失智症; 生活品質; 休閒治療; day care; dementia; recreation therapy; quality of life; 日間照護
• ISSN: 1682-3141; 1948-965X; 1948-965X
• DOI: 10.1097/JNR.0b013e318228ced3

BACKGROUND:Life review, a type of reminiscence therapy, assists participants to seek personal value in order to enhance social status and maintain a high quality of life (QOL). PURPOSE:This study aimed to examine the impact of an adaptive life review program (LRP) on perceived QOL in elders with mild to moderate dementia at a day care center and assess the effect, if any, of different cognitive impairment levels on intervention outcome. METHODS:This pre-experimental design used a single group of seven subjects for pretest and posttest and purposive sampling at a 2-week interval. Researchers administered to each subject a 10-day therapeutic recreation program modified from Tabourne's (1991) LRP. RESULTS:Posttest results found no statistically significant improvements. However, subjects reported higher mean scores of perceived QOL as measured by the 36-Item Short Form Health Survey. This finding indicated a trend of improving physical and mental health after the intervention. In addition, subjects with moderate cognitive impairment reported a higher improvement in physical health perception than did subjects with mild cognitive impairment. CONCLUSIONS/IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE:Future research should include a larger sample size and a longer period of intervention and adopt multiple dimensions of QOL measurements to increase research rigor. Suggestions from this study can be used to improve the LRP.