Comparing the effects of recreational activities and reminiscence therapy on depression and social support among community-dwelling elders

摘要

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE Depression is a common worldwide mental disorder The number of elderly Taiwanese with depression is growing This study examined in rural community-dwelling elderly (? 65 years old) people in southern Taiwan the prevalence of depression and its association with social support variables and compared the effects of recreational activity and reminiscence therapy on the signs and symptoms of depression METHODS In this quasi-experimental research the Brief Symptom Rating Scale (BSRS-5) was used to screen the mental health status of community-dwelling Taiwanese elderly in a community healthcare center Participants with BSRS-5 scores of 6-9 were assigned to the Recreational Reminiscence or Home-Visit group Each group had 10-15 members with mild depression Ten-week interventions were done and the Geriatric Depression Scale Short Form (GDS-SF) and Social Support Inventory (SSI) were the main instruments used to examine the differences in the pretest posttest 1 (10 weeks later) and posttest 2 (18 months later) scores RESULTS Thirty-eight participants were recruited for this study: 14 in the Reminiscence group 13 in the Recreational group and 11 in the Home-Visit group Analyses using inhabitancy and SSI pretest scores as covariants showed that the Reminiscence group had higher pretest mean scores of social support than did the Recreational group (p = 0 02) Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were used to compare the differences in the three groups The mean difference between the GDS-SF posttest 2 and the pretest was significant (p <0 01) in the Reminiscence group; the mean difference between the SSI posttest 1 and the pretest was significant in total social support (p = 0 03) family support (p = 0 03) support from friends (p = 0 02) and satisfaction with social support (p = 0 02) after intervention in the Recreational group Depression attenuation was prolonged in the Reminiscence group CONCLUSIONS The high prevalence of depressive elderly and the rising incidence of suicide by the elderly are urgent mental health problems in Taiwan These problems must be monitored detected and prevented Recreational therapy had a good but short-term effect on increasing social support but not on relieving depression; reminiscence therapy slightly attenuated the signs and symptoms of depression over the long term With this information perhaps effective new strategies can be developed to make old age more enjoyable for the elderly

獎項日期	2018 8月 15
原文	English
監督員	Chung-Hey Chen (Supervisor)