Hanaoka Hideaki, Muraki Toshiaki, Ede Jacqueline, Yasuhara Koichiro, Okamura Hitoshi
Graduate School of Biomedical & Health Sciences, Hiroshima University, Hiroshima, Japan.
Ibaraki Prefectural University of Health Sciences, Ami-machi, Japan.
Psychogeriatrics. 2018 Jul;18(4):283-291. doi: 10.1111/psyg.12322.
There has been little research on reminiscence cues and their effectiveness. The purpose of the present study was to measure the effects of reminiscence practice using olfactory stimuli on the mental health and cognitive functions of community-dwelling elderly individuals.
Written consent was obtained from 72 eligible community-dwelling elderly individuals. They were non-randomly divided into an intervention group and a control group. In the intervention group (n = 35), reminiscence practice was carried out bi-weekly using olfactory stimulation as the cue for eight sessions. In the control group (n = 37), reminiscence practice was carried out without olfactory stimulation. The Geriatric Depression Scale-15 and the Five-cog Test were used as the methods of assessment at baseline and again after completion of the intervention. Participants in the final analysis were 27 individuals in the intervention group and 33 individuals in the control group.
At baseline, a significant difference was seen between the groups depending on the existence of a spouse. Repeated measures analysis of covariance with the existence of a spouse as a covariate showed a significant difference between the two groups in changes in Geriatric Depression Scale-15 scores (P = 0.038). Furthermore, analysis of the participants sorted into a depression symptoms group and a non-depression symptoms group showed a significant group main effect (P = 0.033) and interaction (P = 0.049) in the depression symptoms group.
The results suggest that reminiscence intervention using olfactory stimulation may maintain the mental health of community-dwelling elderly individuals.
关于回忆线索及其有效性的研究较少。本研究的目的是测量使用嗅觉刺激进行回忆练习对社区居住老年人心理健康和认知功能的影响。
从72名符合条件的社区居住老年人那里获得了书面同意。他们被非随机分为干预组和对照组。在干预组（n = 35）中，每两周使用嗅觉刺激作为线索进行回忆练习，共八次。在对照组（n = 37）中，在没有嗅觉刺激的情况下进行回忆练习。使用老年抑郁量表-15和五项认知测试作为基线评估方法，并在干预完成后再次评估。最终分析中的参与者为干预组的27人和对照组的33人。
在基线时，根据配偶的存在情况，两组之间存在显著差异。以配偶的存在作为协变量的重复测量协方差分析显示，两组在老年抑郁量表-15得分变化方面存在显著差异（P = 0.038）。此外，对分为抑郁症状组和非抑郁症状组的参与者进行分析，结果显示抑郁症状组存在显著的组主效应（P = 0.033）和交互作用（P = 0.049）。
结果表明，使用嗅觉刺激的回忆干预可能有助于维持社区居住老年人的心理健康。
