Happiness or hopelessness in late life: A cluster RCT of the 3L-Mind-Training programme among the institutionalized older people.

AIM

To explore the effectiveness of a new mental health promotion activities programme by including the criterion variables of happiness and depressive mood.

DESIGN

A single-blinded, clustered, randomized and controlled trial.

METHOD

A list consisting of the names of elderly residents was provided by the senior social worker at a geriatric institution. The participants recruited for the study were living on one of four different floors that had separate and non-interfering spaces and having comparable disabilities. The researchers randomly assigned residents on two floors as members of the intervention group; the other residents were considered the control group. The intervention groups attended 6 weeks of the 3L-Mind-Training programme, whereas the control group only engaged in regular health promotion activities. The mini version of the Chinese Happiness Inventory was adapted to measure happiness. The Geriatric Depression Scale short-form was used to measure depression in older people. A generalized estimating equation was used to analyse the short-term and durative effects.

FINDINGS

The 126 residents included in the study were 65-97 years old, and 90% of the residents relied on wheelchairs. The intervention activities give significant immediate and durative effects both on subjective well-being enhancement and depressive mood relief. When evaluating the overall intervention activity, 93.8% of the aged residents indicated that this programme was helpful and allowed them to view life events positively.

CONCLUSION AND IMPACT

A well-planned mind-training programme could help elderly people reform their viewpoint and create a more fun and happy experience of ageing.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

Data were obtained from the project, initiated in 2014, which was funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology in Taiwan and was approved by the Institutional Review Board in Chung Shan Medical University (No. CS15009). The trial registration number of the study was No. ChiCTR1900021811.