The Impact of Validation Group Therapy on Nursing Home Residents With Dementia

Abstract

This study examined the effectiveness of validation group therapy for reducing problem behav iors, use of physical restraints, and use of psychotropic medications, and for increasing positive social interactions and psychosocial well-being in nursing home residents with dementia. In four skilled-care nursing homes, 88 residents with dementia were randomly assigned to a group receiving validation therapy (VT), a social contact (SC) group, or a usual care (UC) control group, and were assessed at baseline, 3 months, and 1 year. The nursing staff reported that VT participants showed less physically and verbally aggressive behavior and were not as depressed as residents in the SC or UC group. VT was not effective, however, in reducing the use of physical restraints or the use of psychotropic medications, and it was less effective than SC or UC in reducing physically nonaggressive problem behaviors.

Psychosocial treatments of behavior symptoms in dementia: a systematic review of reports meeting quality standards

“…All three "weak" studies lost points because of high attrition rates (Cohen-Mansfield and Werner, 1997;Toseland et al, 1997;Teri et al, 2000). Details are presented below.…”

“…Personalized recreational activities worked better than usual care but, in contrast to music, attention to participants' skills and interests produced little extra benefit (Kolanowski et al, 2005). Validation therapy proved inferior to social contact groups (Toseland et al, 1997), pointing again to the value of one-to-one, attentive interaction. Progressive muscle relaxation proved useful both to patients and carers.…”

The effects of emotion-oriented approaches in the care for persons suffering from dementia: a review of the literature

“…However, the researchers indicated that contamination, social desirability and enthusiasm of the sta might have aected the results. Toseland et al (1997) also found some positive results in their study of the eect of validation groups in dementing nursing home residents in the United States. They examined the short-term and long-term eects of validation on behavior problems, physical restraints, psychopharmacological drugs, social interaction and psychosocial wellbeing.…”

“…Following Moat et al (1993), Baker et al (1997) examined the eect of snoezelen on behavior, mood and cognition of British patients with dementia attending a day hospital (n 31). In a randomized experimental study, the eects of snoezel sessions were compared to Holden Communication Scale (Holden and Woods, 1982), MACC Behavioral Adjustment Scale (Ellsworth, 1966), CAPE Behavioral Rating Scale (Pattie and Gilleard, 1979), CAPE 12-item Information/Orientation Scale (Pattie and Gilleard, 1979), BPS (Loveren-Huyben et al, 1988), MMSE (Folstein et al, 1975), Katz Index of ADL Evaluation Form (Kane and Kane, 1981), Modi®ed Beck Depression Inventory (Beck et al, 1961), MOSES (Pruchno et al, 1988), CMAI (Cohen-Mans®eld et al, 1989), GIPB (Toseland et al, 1997), MDS (Morris et al, 1990), GRGS (Cornbleth, 1978), GIP (Verstraten and van Eekelen, 1987), Cornell Scale for depression in dementia (Alexopoulos et al, 1988), PGCMS (Lawton, 1975), BOP (van der Kam et al, 1971), GHQ-28 (Goldberg and Hillier, 1979), Dutch work satisfaction scale (Boumans, 1990), Dutch organization and stress scale (Bergers et al, 1986).…”

Effect of combined support for people with dementia and carers versus regular day care on behaviour and mood of persons with dementia: results from a multi‐centre implementation study

“…In 1993 the Department of Psychiatry of the Vrije Universiteit medical centre (VUmc) in Amsterdam developed a comprehensive support programme, which integrated different types of support that had been proven effective in practice and/or research, such as special activity programmes, psychosocial approaches and case management for the persons with dementia (Karlsson et al, 1985;Sandman et al, 1988;Dröes, 1991;Gibson, 1994;Woods, 1996;Dröes, 1997;Toseland et al, 1997;De Lange et al, 1999;Finnema et al, 2000), and informative meetings, discussion groups and a consulting hour for their carers (Lawton et al, 1989;Cuijpers, 1992;Knight et al, 1993;VernooijDassen et al, 2000;Acton and Kang, 2001). The support programme focuses on people with mild to moderate dementia who live in the community and their carers, and, besides information, aims to give them the practical, emotional and social support they need to cope with the consequences of dementia in their life.…”