A Follow-Up Study of a Reminiscence Intervention and Its Effects on Depressed Mood, Life Satisfaction, and Well-Being in the Elderly

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to which a reminiscence intervention reduces depressed mood and improves life satisfaction and psychological well-being. 160 healthy elderly people participated in a 10-session intervention. An experimental design with pretest and posttest evaluations was applied, comparing a control group to an intervention group to evaluate the effects of the program. Follow-up measures were also taken to find out whether the intervention's positive effects lasted over time. Mixed Model ANOVAs showed significant increases in the time-group interaction, life satisfaction, and psychological well-being measures, and decreases in depressed mood, after treatment. The effects remained after three months in the case of life satisfaction and some dimensions of psychological well-being, but they were lower on depressed mood. This study provides additional support for the effectiveness of a reminiscence program as a useful intervention to improve the quality of life of older adults.

The Effectiveness of Reminiscence Therapy on Alleviating Depressive Symptoms in Older Adults: A Systematic Review

“…The selective reporting of the evidence was not clearly stated. Moreover, three studies were low in other risks of bias (Chiang et al, 2010;Viguer et al, 2017;Syed-Elias et al, 2020). Overall, the quality of the 10 included articles was acceptable.…”

“…In the included studies, 453 older adults aged over 50 years received an intervention. Nine studies of the ten studies listed the content of reminiscence therapy, and three had a sample size >100 (Pot et al, 2010;Zhou et al, 2012;Viguer et al, 2017). Figure 1 provides a flow chart of literature selection on reminiscence therapy interventions for older adults with depressive symptoms.…”

“…The geographical distribution of studies included six conducted in China, one in the Netherlands (Pot et al, 2010), one in the Dominican Republic (Viguer et al, 2017), one in Iran (Hamzehzadeh et al, 2018), and one in Malaysia (Syed-Elias et al, 2020). The research sites included three hospital studies (Yue and Chen, 2013;Cai, 2018;Wang et al, 2020), three community studies (Wang et al, 2011;Zhou et al, 2012;Syed-Elias et al, 2020) and four institutional studies (Chiang et al, 2010;Pot et al, 2010;Viguer et al, 2017;Hamzehzadeh et al, 2018). The included studies consisted of the group and individual interventions, of which eight studies using group reminiscence and two using one-to-one reminiscence interventions (Wang et al, 2011;Cai, 2018).…”

“…One study clearly stated that the enrolled participants were taking antidepressants (Wang et al, 2020), and two studies indicated that older adult participants had chronic diseases (Cai, 2018;Wang et al, 2020). Four studies had a follow-up of 3-9 months after the intervention (Chiang et al, 2010;Pot et al, 2010;Viguer et al, 2017;Syed-Elias et al, 2020).…”

Effect of reminiscence therapy based on positive psychology theory (RTBPPT) on the positive feelings of the spousal caregivers of elderly patients with advanced cancer in China

“…considering how the couples managed to survive that period of poverty and the resumption of college entrance examinations after the Cultural Revolution in 1977). Perhaps the participants’ reinterpretation of their experiences gave them the capacity to transform negative events into positive results (Viguer, Satorres, Fortuna Terrero, & Melendez, 2017). At the same time, they developed a more appreciative and positive view of their experiences that lifted their burden.…”