ABSTRACT

Objective : The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of occupational reminiscence therapy on the communication and interaction skills of elderly people with dementia. Methods : For seven elderly persons with dementia, four with mild dementia and three with moderate, we executed occupational reminiscence for eight weeks from May to July, 2012, with one session per week, at 40 minutes per session. A one-group pretest/post-test design, which is a quasi-experimental research tool, was also applied to verify the effects occupational reminiscence on the subjects’ ability regarding their communication and interaction skills. The measurements were performed using The Assessment of Interaction Skills (ACIS). Results : The results demonstrated that the intervention significantly affected the communication and interaction skills of elderly people with dementia (p<.05). In addition, an improvement of their ACIS score showed no significant differences between those with mild dementia and those with moderate dementia (p>.05). Conclusion : The results of this study show that occupational reminiscence for elderly people suffering from dementia is a useful therapeutic approach by enhancing their communication and interaction skills. If occupational therapists can obtain knowledge and make a program for occupational reminiscence therapy, research in this field will be further developed.