Structured reminiscence: An intervention to decrease depression in older women

The hypothesis for this study was: Women, 60 years and older, who reside in two assisted living facilities in southeast Texas and who participate in twice weekly one-hour reminiscence group sessions for 6-weeks will report significantly lower depression scores, as measured by the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), 3-weeks and 6-weeks after the intervention begins compared to control group women. Forty-seven women (M = 82.53, SD = 7.58) residing in assisted living facilities comprised the sample.

A mixed design analysis of variance (ANOVA) examined the effect of group type (usual care vs. reminiscence) and the time of measurement (baseline, 3-weeks, 6-weeks) on depression scores. The main effect of reminiscence was significant (F (1, 45) = 5.01; p = 0.03). The main effect of time was significant (F (2, 90) = 3.84, p = 0.03).

Post hoc t-tests analysis indicated depression scores of the usual care and reminiscence groups were not significantly different at baseline (t (47) =1.41, p = 0.17). The two groups differed significantly at 3-weeks (t (47) = 2.02, p = 0.05) and at 6-weeks (t (45) = 2.75, p = 0.008).

A one-way ANOVA showed depression scores did not differ across the three time periods in the usual care group (F (2, 24) = 0.33; p = 0.72). A one-way ANOVA showed depression scores differed across the three time periods in the reminiscence group (F (2, 21) = 5.31; p = 0.009). Post hoc analyses of depression scores of reminiscence group with Tukey's Honesty Significance Difference (HSD) showed that GDS scores at baseline (M = 6.82) were not significantly different from GDS scores at 3 weeks (M = 5.68, p = 0.258), and that GDS scores at 3-weeks (M = 5.68) were not significantly different from GDS scores at 6-weeks ( M = 4.50, p = 0.232). However, GDS scores at baseline (M = 6.82) were significantly different from GDS scores at 6-weeks (M = 4.50, p = 0.006). These findings indicate group reminiscence is associated with lower depression scores if offered twice weekly for 6-weeks.