Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 March 2020
Elderly institutionalization involves an emotional adaptation and the research shows that the risk of depression increases.
Evaluate the impact of a neuropsychological group rehabilitation program (NGRP) on depressive symptomatology of institutionalized elderly.
NGRP influences the decrease of depressive symptoms.
Elderly were assessed pre- and post-intervention with the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) and divided into a Rehabilitated Group (RG), a Waiting List Group (WLG), and a Neutral Task Group (NTG).
In this randomized study, before rehabilitation, 60 elderly people (RG; 80.31 ± 8.98 years of age; 74.2% women) had a mean GDS score of 13.33 (SD = 9.21). Five elderly included in the NTG (80.13 ± 10.84 years; 75.0% women) had a mean GDS score of 10.60 (SD = 4.72). Finally, 29 elderly in the WLG (81.32 ± 6.68 years; 69.0% women) had a mean GDS score of 14.93 (SD = 6.02). The groups were not different in GDS baseline scores (F = 0.74; P = 0.478). ANCOVA has shown significant differences (P < 0.05) in GDS scores between the three groups after 10 weeks. Sidak adjustment for multiple comparisons revealed that elderly in the WLG got worse scores in GDS, comparing with elderly in RG (P < 0.01), and with elderly in NTG (P < 0.05).
Elderly that are not involved in a task get worse in depressive symptomatology. Being involved in a structured group task means lower depressive symptoms and being in a NGRP means even greater results.
The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.
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