Sensory Stimuli Reminiscence for Patients with Alzheimer's Disease: Relevance and Implications

Recently reminiscence has been employed by many caregivers as a form of activity. However, the utility of reminiscence for Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients has not been empirically tested This study included 15 patients divided into three groups of five participating as experimental, control-1, and control-2 groups. The experimental group attended 12 sessions of reminiscence with sensory stimuli. The control-1 group attended 12 chatting sessions oriented toward present and future events, and the control-2 group did not partake in any events. Behaviors of all patients were documented during and after the sessions. Results indicated that there was only one significant difference among reminiscence, control-1, and control-2 groups: The MMSE score in the post condition was minimally changed for the reminiscence group (K-W = 4.80, df = 2, p < .09). However, the number of aberrant behaviors manifested by the reminiscence group was also increased in the post condition.