@article{21703,
  keywords = {Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale, Cognition Disorders, Dementia, Depressive Disorder, Female, Geriatric Assessment, Humans, Institutionalization, leprosy, Longitudinal studies, Male, Mental Recall, Prevalence, Psychotherapy, Group, Single-Blind Method, Taiwan},
  author = {Su T and Wu L and Lin C},
  title = {The prevalence of dementia and depression in Taiwanese institutionalized leprosy patients, and the effectiveness evaluation of reminiscence therapy--a longitudinal, single-blind, randomized control study.},
  abstract = {<p><b>OBJECTIVE: </b>This study investigated the prevalence of depression and dementia in long-term institutionalized older leprosy patients in Taiwan. We then examined the effectiveness of reminiscence group therapy on depressive symptoms and cognitive function in this population.</p><p><b>METHODS: </b>We recruited 129 long-term institutionalized older leprosy patients in Taiwan and used the Geriatric Depression Scale-Short Form (GDS-SF), the mini mental state examination (MMSE), and the Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) scale for outcome measurement. We then conducted a single-blind, randomized, longitudinal quasi-experimental analysis comparing the pre-test and post-test results of two equivalent groups at a 24-week intervention interval. The intervention in the experimental group was three sessions of reminiscence group therapy per week, whereas that in the control group was weekly individual supportive interviews.</p><p><b>RESULTS: </b>The prevalence of dementia was 45.7-50.4% according to a CDR score ≥ 0.5 and an MMSE score < 25, and the prevalence of depression was 25% based on a GDS-SF score ≥ 7. According to the Wilcoxon signed-rank test, the GDS-SF scores in the experimental group decreased significantly (p = 0.02) after intervention as compared with that in the control group (p = 0.22), whereas the MMSE scores in both groups remained steady.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS: </b>The prevalence of dementia and depression in long-term institutionalized older leprosy patients in Taiwan is high. Reminiscence group therapy has been confirmed effective on depression in this population, but its effectiveness on cognitive function requires further verification.</p>},
  year = {2012},
  journal = {International journal of geriatric psychiatry},
  volume = {27},
  pages = {187-96},
  month = {2012 Feb},
  issn = {1099-1166},
  doi = {10.1002/gps.2707},
  language = {eng},
}