4.5 Article

Mindfulness Prevents Depression and Psychopathology in Elderly People with Mild to Moderate Alzheimer's Disease: A Randomized Clinical Trial

期刊

JOURNAL OF ALZHEIMERS DISEASE
卷 91, 期 1, 页码 471-481

出版社

IOS PRESS
DOI: 10.3233/JAD-220889

关键词

Alzheimer's disease; cognitive stimulation; mindfulness; randomized clinical trial; relaxation

向作者/读者索取更多资源

This longitudinal study examined the effectiveness of mindfulness practice in preventing psychological and behavioral symptoms, specifically mood disorders, in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Findings showed that compared to other experimental treatments and a control group, only mindfulness was able to prevent the onset of depression and other psychopathological symptoms in early-stage AD patients. Based on its effectiveness in maintaining cognitive functions and preventing psychopathology, mindfulness is recommended as the first-choice non-pharmacological treatment for mild to moderate AD.
Background: This longitudinal study addressed whether mindfulness practice prevents psychological and behavioral symptoms, especially mood disorders, in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Objective: To assess the incidence of depression in the course of AD and to determine which non-pharmacological treatment (NPT) is most effective in preventing psychopathological symptoms. Methods: We conducted a longitudinal, non-inferiority and equivalence randomized clinical trial, repeated-measures design, with a control group and three experimental treatments: mindfulness, cognitive stimulation, and relaxation. Each experimental group performed three weekly sessions for two years. The pharmacological treatment of all participants was donepezil (10 mg). Participants were patients with probable AD without diagnosed depression from the public neurology services of the Canary Health Service, Spain. Psychological evaluation was performed using the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS), and Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI-Q). The statistical analysis included only patients who attended at least 75% of the sessions. A nonparametric, repeated-measures analysis was performed with Kruskal-Wallis H test and between-group differences with Mann-Whitney U test with Bonferroni correction (p < 0.008). Effect size was calculated with partial eta-squared. Results: The results showed significant differences with large effect sizes (eta(2)(p)>0.14) between mindfulness and the rest of the experimental groups as well as the control in the GDS, HDRS, and NPI-Q scales. Conclusion: Compared to the other experimental groups, only mindfulness prevented the onset of depression and other psychopathologies in early-stage AD. Based on its effectiveness in maintaining cognitive functions and preventing psychopathology, we recommend mindfulness as the first-choice NPT for mild to moderate AD.

作者

我是这篇论文的作者
点击您的名字以认领此论文并将其添加到您的个人资料中。

评论

主要评分

4.5
评分不足

次要评分

新颖性
-
重要性
-
科学严谨性
-
评价这篇论文

推荐

暂无数据
暂无数据