Background: According to the World Health Organization (WHO) report in 2021, there are more than 55 million people with dementia worldwide. The prevalence of dementia in Taiwan is about 7.54%. Dementia-related costs are US$1.3 trillion per year and are likely to reach US$2.8 trillion by 2030 due to increased care costs. Live review, one of the reminiscence therapies, has become popular to treat patients with mild and severe dementia.

Objective: Using life story drawing to improve cognition and depression of the demented elderly.

Methods: A quasi-experimental research design was applied. Usual care was provided in one nursing home as a control group while a painting life stories intervention was provided in the other nursing home as an experimental group for 8 consecutive weeks. MMSE and Cornell's Wisdom Depression Scale for the Elderly were administered three times which included a pre-test, the 8th week after the intervention, and the 12th week. A statistical software package spss22.0 was used to analyze the data including the mean, standard deviation, percentage, t-test, and generalized estimation equation (GEE) to explore the cognitive and depression improvement of the elderly with mental health.
Results: After 8 weeks of intervention, the experimental group had significant effects on cognitive and depression improvement. After 12 weeks of delay effect, the experimental group still showed significant improvement both in cognition and depression.

Conclusion: The painting of life stories can be promoted in the institutions of the dementia elderly to slow down cognitive degeneration as well as to improve their depression.

Authors:
Whei Mei Jean Shih, Chang Gung University of Science & Technology, Taiwan
Chia-Wen Tsai, Independent Scholar, Taiwan

About the Presenter(s)
Professor Whei_Mei Jean Shih is a University Associate Professor/Senior Lecturer at Chang Gung University of Science & Technology in Taiwan

See this presentation on the full schedule – Thursday Schedule

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