Effects of Group Reminiscence Therapy Based on Korean Traditional Play for Mild Cognitive Impairment and Dementia Patients

ABSTRACT

Objective@#This study explored the efficacy of group reminiscence therapy, incorporating traditional plays, for individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia patients. @*Methods@#We provided 10 sessions of group reminiscence therapy to 25 MCI and dementia patients. We conducted assess-ments, both before and after the program, encompassing a range of tests, namely the Mini-Mental Status Examination (MMSE), Dysexecutive Questionnaire, Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI-K), Dementia Care Assessment Packet-Instrumental Activities of Daily Living, Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-K), and Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI-K). @*Results@#Following the program, there was a significant improvement in MMSE scores for MCI patients (19.17 to 22.33, p=0.027). There was a significant improvement in NPI-K scores for dementia patients (8.05 to 3.74, p=0.006). There was a sig-nificant improvement in GDS-K scores for MCI patients (17.00 to 14.00, p=0.043). There was a significant improvement in ZBIK scores for dementia (28.53 to 17.68, p=0.001) and MCI patients (29.17 to 16.33, p=0.046). @*Conclusion@#Our study suggested that group reminiscence therapy based on traditional play might be effective in global cog-nition of MCI patients, neuropsychological symptoms of dementia patients, depression of MCI patients, and caregiver burden of all subjects.