Therapeutic Conversation to Improve Mood in Nursing Home Residents with Alzheimer's Disease

Few studies have tested strategies to address the mental health needs of individuals with Alzheimer's disease (AD). To test a newly developed, empirically based modified counseling approach, 30 nursing home residents with AD were randomly assigned to a modified counseling (Therapeutic Conversation) treatment group or usual care control group. Mini-Mental State Examination mean scores were 10.60 ( SD = 6.99) for the treatment group and 12.26 ( SD = 7.43) for the control group. Individual treatment was provided three times per week for 16 weeks. On the posttest, treatment group participants evidenced significantly less negative mood than the control group on the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale and the Sadness and Apathy subscales of the Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders Mood Scale. The differences approached significance on the Dementia Mood Assessment Scale. Results suggest that a therapeutic counseling approach can be effective in treating the dysphoria commonly found in individuals with AD.