Modifying a Life Review Intervention for People Living with Dementia

Background. Little research has been conducted to designate an effective life review intervention that reduces caregiver burden and extends the physical and cognitive function of people living with dementia (PLWD). This paper reports on the re-design and implementation of an adapted structured life review intervention for caregivers to facilitate with the PLWD. Methods. There were 5 phases in the planning and implementation of this modified intervention. These phases included a literature review, curriculum design and caregiver training, weekly life review sessions, weekly feasibility sessions, and an evaluation. Results. In a pilot study of 19 dyads (PLWD and caregivers) were enrolled and 17 dyads completed the re-designed life review intervention. The caregivers found that they wanted more time to learn about each other in the training class. Minimal assistant was needed during the fidelity sessions with the caregivers completed on a weekly basis while the caregivers were facilitating the life review over six weeks. Conclusion. There were many positive outcomes to the re-designing of the structured life review; however, due to the small sample size, statistical significance cannot be determined. Conducting this program with a larger sample size of PLWD and caregiver dyads is recommended.