Search results for ‘Subject term:"older people"’ Sort:
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A personal experience of successful doll therapy
- Author:
- GIBSON Shelia
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Dementia Care, 13(3), May 2005, pp.22-23.
- Publisher:
- Hawker
The author describes the difference doll therapy made to the quality of her mother's final months of life in a nursing home, the therapeutic consequences for the family and benefits for staff.
Psychosocial benefits of solitary reminiscence writing: an exploratory study
- Authors:
- ELFORD H., et al
- Journal article citation:
- Aging and Mental Health, 9(4), July 2005, pp.305-314.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
Claims have been made that reminiscence has benefits for older people's psychological well-being, and that writing memories may be a therapeutic process. This paper describes an exploratory study in which five nursing home residents engaged in a process of writing their memories by themselves, in a series of booklets containing memory prompts and photographs, over a period of four weeks. Each completed booklet was typed up by researchers and returned to participants the following week, with a bound copy provided to participants at the end of the study period. Analysis focuses on two sets of data: an in-depth case study of one participant, and a thematic analysis of field notes, researcher reflections, and the written material produced by the other study participants. The case study revealed three main themes: views on the past; sharing the past; and confidence in writing about the past. The field note analysis indicated the presence of four themes: proof and maintenance of skills; psychological or internal processes; social contact; and pleasure in reminiscence. The writing was seen as cathartic and provided a meaningful purpose, an opportunity to exercise writing skills and memory, and a focus for participants to share key stories with others. This exploratory study suggests that there is potential in using solitary writing within a reminiscence framework to improve psychological well-being in older people. However, caution should be exercised when encouraging older people to write their stories. Issues of confidentiality, audience, support, and appropriateness of the activity for the individual need consideration.
Functions of reminiscence and mental health in later life
- Authors:
- CAPPALIEZ P., O'ROURKE N., CHAUDHURY H.
- Journal article citation:
- Aging and Mental Health, 9(4), July 2005, pp.295-301.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
This study examines the extent to which various forms of reminiscence predict life satisfaction and psychiatric distress with and without control for the contribution of personality traits (n?=?420). Among older adults, reminiscences to revive old problems and to fill a void of stimulation were associated with lower life satisfaction and greater psychiatric distress. Reminiscence to maintain connection with a departed person also predicted psychiatric distress. In contrast, reminiscences for death preparation and to foster conversation were linked with higher life satisfaction. Based on our proposed model of the functions of reminiscence, discussion focuses on adaptive and non-adaptive uses of reminiscence in later life.
Subjective health measures and acute treatment outcomes in geriatric depression
- Authors:
- LENZE Eric J., et al
- Journal article citation:
- International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 16(12), December 2001, pp.1149-1155.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
This study examines measures of self-rated health, physical disability, and social function as predictors of treatment response in late life- depression, and to assess these same health measures as treatment outcomes. Results found subjects with poorer self-rated health as baseline were more likely both to drop out of treatment and to not respond to adequate treatment. This relationship was independent of demographic measures, severity of depression, physical and social functioning, medical illness, personality, hopelessness, overall medication use, and side effects or non-compliance with treatment. Although this finding is preliminary it suggests that lower self-rated health may independently predict premature discontinuation of treatment for depression. Additionally, subjects who recovered from depression showed significantly improvements in self-rated health, physical disability, and social functioning.
A preliminary study of dream-telling among mentally healthy elderly: no adverse effects on life or sleep quality
- Authors:
- FUNKHOUSER Arthur T., et al
- Journal article citation:
- International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 15(10), October 2000, pp.917-930.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
While there have been several studies about dreams and dreaming among the elderly, there does not seem to have been any study of the effects of regular dream-telling (without interpretation). Listening to dreams could become a regular part of caring for the elderly and infirm. The effects of regular dream-telling in mentally healthy elderly clinical research volunteers were measured on several variables using standardized testing and self-report: life satisfaction, intrapsychic boundaries, sleep quality, sleep duration, dream recall, dream tone, and dream epoch, and were compared with two control groups. The six variables showed no significant differences among the three groups, indicating that dream-telling produced no adverse effects. The present findings seem to imply that dream-telling is not dangerous for mentally healthy individuals and may thus serve as a baseline for future studies involving geriatric patients with mental disorders or elderly undergoing significant life-events, e.g., bereavement or retirement, using the method of regular dream-telling.
Perceptions and consequences of ageism: views of older people
- Authors:
- MINICHIELLO Victor, BROWNE Jan, KENDIG Hal
- Journal article citation:
- Ageing and Society, 20(3), May 2000, pp.253-278.
- Publisher:
- Cambridge University Press
This qualitative study examines meanings and experiences of ageism for older Australians. Informants recognise that older people as a group experience negative treatment in terms of poor access to transport and housing, low incomes, forced retirement and inadequate nursing home care. Health professionals are a major source of ageist treatment.
Humour therapy in patients with late-life depression or Alzheimer's disease: a pilot study
- Authors:
- WALTER Marc, et al
- Journal article citation:
- International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 22(1), January 2007, pp.77-83.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
Of the disabling disorders of the elderly, depression is the most common affective disorder and Alzheimer's disease (AD) the most common neurodegenerative disorder. Pharmacological treatment strategies for these disorders are often accompanied with severe side effects. Therefore non-pharmacological treatment strategies are of great importance. The aim of the present study was to investigate the impact of humour therapy on quality of life in patients with depression or AD. Twenty patients with late-life depression and 20 patients with AD were evaluated. Ten patients in each group underwent a humour therapy group (HT) once in two weeks for 60 min in addition to standard pharmacotherapy, which was given as usual to the other group as standard therapy (ST). All patients completed a psychometric test battery at admission and before discharge from the clinic. The quality of life scores improved both in HT and ST groups for depressive patients but not for patients with AD irrespective of the therapy group. Depressive patients receiving HT showed the highest quality of life after treatment. In addition, patients with depression in both therapy groups showed improvements in mood, depression score, and instrumental activities of daily living. Although there was no significant effect of humour therapy comparing with standard therapy on quality of life, these findings suggest that humour therapy can provide an additional therapeutic tool. Further studies with higher frequently humour groups are required in order to investigate the impact of humour therapy in gerontopsychiatric treatment.
The effects of reminiscence on depressive symptoms and mood status of older institutionalized adults in Taiwan
- Author:
- WANG Jing-Yy
- Journal article citation:
- International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 20(1), January 2005, pp.57-62.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
This study examined the effects of reminiscence on depressive symptoms and mood status of elderly people residing in long-term care facilities. A longitudinal quasi-experimental design was conducted, using two equivalent groups for pre-post test and purposive sampling. Each subject was administered pre- and post- tests at a 4 month interval, but subjects in the experimental group underwent weekly individual reminiscence therapy. Geriatric Depression Scale short form (GDS-SF) and Apparent Emotion Rating Scale (AER) were used as study instruments. Forty-eight subjects completed the study, with 25 in the experimental group and 23 in the control group. The experimental findings indicated that the experimental group demonstrated fewer depressive symptoms (p < 0.05) and better mood status (p = 0.05) on the post-test comparing to the control group. These warranted that reminiscence therapy is a recommended therapy for older people who reside in care facilities. It can provide a basis for planning geriatric care in community to promote the well being and quality of life of older people.
Evaluating the impact of reminiscence on the quality of life of older people
- Author:
- ESRC GROWING OLDER PROGRAMME
- Publisher:
- University of Sheffield. Department of Sociological Studies
- Publication year:
- 2002
- Pagination:
- 4p.
- Place of publication:
- Sheffield
Reminiscence has been defined as 'the vocal or silent recall of events in a person's life, either alone, or with another person or group of people'. Anecdotal evidence suggests that reminiscence can improve the well-being of older people, but there have been very few substantial studies. In our study, 142 older people living in care settings participated in an evaluation of the impact of reminiscence on quality of life. We assessed our participants' quality of life before and after the intervention, and changes in their quality of life over the period of the intervention were compared with those found in a group of older people who were not involved in any reminiscence intervention (the control group). We also carried out interviews and focus groups with care staff, older people, and family carers of older people, to establish their views and feelings on reminiscence.
Bright light treatment improves sleep in institutionalised elderly: an open trial
- Authors:
- FETVEIT Arne, SKJERVE Arvid, BJORRVATIN Bjorn
- Journal article citation:
- International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 18(6), June 2003, pp.520-526.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
This study evaluates the effects of bright light therapy among demented nursing home patients with sleep disturbances. 11 nursing home patients with actigraphically measured sleep efficiency below 85% took part in an open, non-randomised study where the subjects served as their own control. After two weeks of baseline measurements and two weeks of pretreatment measurements, patients received bright light exposure 2 h/day within the period 08:00-11:00 for two weeks. Sleep-wake patterns during the 24-h day were evaluated by nursing staff ratings and wrist-worn motor activity devices (actigraphs). Sleep improved substantially with bright light exposure. Waking time within nocturnal sleep was reduced by nearly two h, and sleep efficiency improved from 73% to 86%. Corresponding improvements were found in nursing staff ratings. Effects were consistent across subjects. The findings add further evidence of the effectiveness of morning bright light exposure in the treatment of disturbed sleep among demented nursing home patients