title: Impact of the life review program on elders with dementia: a preliminary study at a day care center in southern Taiwan.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  : Life review, a type of reminiscence therapy, assists participants to seek personal value in order to enhance social status and maintain a high quality of life (QOL).
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  : This study aimed to examine the impact of an adaptive life review program (LRP) on perceived QOL in elders with mild to moderate dementia at a day care center and assess the effect, if any, of different cognitive impairment levels on intervention outcome.
  
  
  METHODS
  : This pre-experimental design used a single group of seven subjects for pretest and posttest and purposive sampling at a 2-week interval. Researchers administered to each subject a 10-day therapeutic recreation program modified from Tabourne's (1991) LRP.
  
  
  RESULTS
  : Posttest results found no statistically significant improvements. However, subjects reported higher mean scores of perceived QOL as measured by the 36-Item Short Form Health Survey. This finding indicated a trend of improving physical and mental health after the intervention. In addition, subjects with moderate cognitive impairment reported a higher improvement in physical health perception than did subjects with mild cognitive impairment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  : Future research should include a larger sample size and a longer period of intervention and adopt multiple dimensions of QOL measurements to increase research rigor. Suggestions from this study can be used to improve the LRP.
authors.affiliation: Graduate Institute of Sports and Leisure Management, National Taiwan Normal University. linxx289@gmail.com
authors.forename: Li-Jung
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Kuan-Yi
authors.initials: KY
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Carla E S
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Tabourne
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003631:Day Care, Medical; D003704:Dementia / Q000451:nursing*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011788:Quality of Life; D013624:Taiwan