Randomized controlled trial of a six-week spiritual reminiscence intervention on hope, life satisfaction, and spiritual well-being in elderly with mild and moderate dementia

OBJECTIVE: Reminiscence therapy has been reported to improve the well-being in patients with dementia. However, few studies have examined the effects of spiritual reminiscence, which emphasizes on reconnecting and enhancing the meaning of one's own experience, on patients with dementia. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effects of spiritual reminiscence on hope, life satisfaction, and spiritual well-being in elderly Taiwanese with mild or moderate dementia. METHODS: A randomized controlled trial was conducted on 103 patients with mild or moderate dementia recruited from a medical center in central Taiwan. The patients were randomly assigned to either a 6-week spiritual reminiscence group (n = 53) or control group (n = 50). The Herth Hope Index, the Life Satisfaction Scale, the Spirituality Index of Well-Being were administered before and after the 6-week period. RESULTS: The interaction terms between group and time for the three outcome measures were found to be significant (P < 0.001), indicating that the changes over time in them were different between the intervention and control groups. CONCLUSIONS: Findings of this randomized controlled trial showed that hope, life satisfaction, and spiritual well-being of elderly patients with mild or moderate dementia could significantly be improved with a 6-week spiritual reminiscence intervention.