A pilot study of spiritual reminiscence programme using expressive Arts therapy for the older adults with mild cognitive impairment staying in nursing home

Abstract

Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) has increasingly drawn attention in both research and clinical practice, as it is speculated preluding neurocognitive disorder. Recent literature has documented that creative arts engagement is fundamental to foster physical health and spiritual well-being. As such, a creative care intervention, namely Creative Spiritual Reminiscence programme (CSRp) was implemented. The objectives of this study were to investigate the effects in meaning-making and to improve quality of life (QOL) for Older Adults (OAs) with MCI. A mixed-methods approach combining qualitative and qualitative data was applied. Ten OAs with MCI staying in a local nursing home were recruited at convenience. A 1.5-hour, 6-week CSRp was implemented on a weekly basis. Quantitative measures were applied to evaluate change in neuropsychiatric symptoms, cognitive and psychological well-being, and perception on quality of life 2 weeks before and 2 weeks after completion of intervention. In addition, post-posttests on psychological well-being were applied 6 weeks after the intervention. The dependent t-test comparing pre-tests and post-tests of CSRp showed significantly higher scores on their visuospatial/executive (p<0.01), attention function (p<0.05), psychological well-being (p<0.01) as well as QOL (p=0.000), while the negative neuropsychiatric symptoms (p=0.000) were minimized. Also, in the qualitative aspect, analysis from grounded theory on the CSRp for the participants yielded significant meanings that included participants’ descriptions of the meanings of their past, present and future life. It revealed three core spiritual phenomena, including restorative and positive intrapersonal experience, reconciliation through self-transcendence and belongingness, and reassurance towards death, which served as a valuable asset of understanding spirituality in Chinese OAs with MCI. This small-sized research study might contribute to the limited existing literature on spirituality and expressive arts therapy of OAs with MCI or neurocognitive disorder. Nevertheless, it was anticipated that more evidence-based studies with larger sample sizes on this topic in Chinese population should be further implemented.