The effects of group reminiscence therapy on depression, self-esteem, and affect balance of Chinese community-dwelling elderly.

OBJECTIVES

To study the effects of group reminiscence therapy on depressive symptoms, self-esteem, and affect balance among community dwelling elderly.

METHODS

Eight communities were randomly selected from 372 eligible communities in Changsha city. They were randomly divided into four experimental groups and four control group. Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) was used to screen entire 478 older adults living in these 8 communities. One hundred and sixty five of them had a GDS score between 11 and 25; among them, 125 participated in the study finally. The elderly group who were in the control group received health education, while the intervention group received both health education and group reminiscence therapy for 6 weeks. Both groups were assessed with the GDS, Self-Esteem Scale (SES), and Affect Balance Scale (ABS) before and after the 6-week-intervention. The results were analyzed using a mixed effect model with fixed effect of the intervention and random effect of the community, incorporating the structured randomness at the community level.

RESULTS

After 6 weeks' therapy, the GDS scores in the intervention group decreased significantly compared to those in the control group (p<0.001). Scores on the positive affect subscale and affect balance in the intervention group increased significantly higher than control group, and scores on the negative affect subscale decreased significantly lower than control group (p<0.01). After the intervention, there were no statistically significant differences in self-esteem scores between intervention and control groups.

CONCLUSIONS

Group reminiscence therapy was effective in reducing symptoms of depression, improving affect balance, and promoting mental health of community-dwelling elderly.