2020 Volume 25 Issue 1 Pages 68-77
The present study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a nursing intervention program to help individuals with early dementia (mild cognitive impairment [MCI] or early stage of dementia) gain life integrity, which is a developmental task of old age. Fifteen individuals with early dementia (MCI: n＝5, Alzheimer’s dementia: n＝9, and cerebrovascular dementia: n＝1; mean age: 80.7±7.0 years; mean Mini-Mental State Examination score: 25.3±2.8) participated in a six-session Support Program for Discussing the Present, Past, and Future and for Recording the Discussions in the Orange Notebook. Erikson’s Developmental Task Achievement scale scores were measured pre- and post-intervention. Based on their pre-intervention score (mean, 39.1±4.9), participants were divided into low- (＜40) or high- (≥40) score groups and compared. A significant post-intervention improvement was observed in the low-score group (P＝.007). No difference between pre- and post-intervention was observed in the high-score group. The present findings indicate the effectiveness of the present nursing intervention program for gaining life integrity, particularly for individuals with low developmental task achievement scores.
