None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
The aim of this project is to assess the feasibility and effectiveness of an intervention, recently shown to have promise in the US, in Australia. The intervention targets depression by increasing nursing home residents’ involvement in simple, enjoyable activities. The pilot project will be conducted in two Brisbane Residential Aged Care (RAC) facilities and will involve working with residents and staff to increase resident involvement in enjoyable activities. The intervention is inexpensive and relatively simple to implement and will be assessed for effectiveness, feasibility and acceptability.
Interventions
The intervention is an 8-week trial of activity scheduling to improve symptoms of depression in nursing home residents with Alzheimer's disease. The intervention has two important components: (A) participants will work individually with a therapist (once per week for approximately 30-40 minutes) to identify enjoyable activities that are feasible and practical within the nursing home environment and the resident’s abilities, and develop an individually tailored plan to increase the availability
The intervention is an 8-week trial of activity scheduling to improve symptoms of depression in nursing home residents with Alzheimer's disease. The intervention has two important components: (A) participants will work individually with a therapist (once per week for approximately 30-40 minutes) to identify enjoyable activities that are feasible and practical within the nursing home environment and the resident’s abilities, and develop an individually tailored plan to increase the availability and frequency of those events. Enjoyable activities are defined simply as activities the resident reports he or she would enjoy doing or enjoy doing more of and may be as simple as wearing a favourite piece of clothing, watching a TV show or going on an outing. (B) Involvement of facility staff - The therapist will simultaneously work with facility staff (particularly activities staff) to implement the enjoyable activities and educate them about depression in the nursing home context. One three hour training session regarding depression in older people will be conducted immediately prior to commencement of the intervention. In addition, one staff member (ideally an activities staff member) will be nominated to be actively involved as a co-therapist for each participant who will be asked to support and encourage him/her to achieve their planned enjoyable activity each week. The therapist will liase with the co-therapist weekly (5-10 minutes will be all that is required) to inform them of the planned enjoyable activities for each participant for the following week and to identify any potential barriers to their implementation and identify possible solutions. The trial will be conducted in 2 residential aged care facilities sequentially. Residents in facility A will receive the intervention for 8 weeks while residents in facility B receive treatment as usual. At the end of 8 weeks, residents in facility B will receive the intervention for 8 weeks while residents in facility A receive treatment as usual. There will be no wash-out period.
Sponsors
Catherine Travers
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Crossover
Primary purpose
Educational / counselling / training
Masking
Open (masking not used)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
60 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
Participants must have a diagnosis of mild to moderate probable Alzheimer's Disease (AD), or Vascular Dementia (VAD) mixed AD/VAD; Participants must have evidence of symptoms of depression as measured by the Geriatric Depression Scale (12R); Participants must reside in a Residential Aged Care facility
Exclusion criteria
Profound deafness; Severe dementia (MMSE scores <10); Non-english speaking;
Outcome results
None listed