YouTube is a feasible means of conducting computerized based reminiscence therapy ... the participants had an increased sense of well-being and mood, and displayed greater communicative participation and engagement.
Alzheimer's Reading Room
Traditionally, this therapy makes use of photos, sound recordings and newspaper clippings, the researchers said.
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The new study used YouTube clips as a means to deliver reminiscence therapy to dementia patients in a hospital setting.
Six participants watched video clips related to their social interests or topics that came up in discussion. These included clips of historic sports stars and classic moments from movies and musicals, such as Gene Kelly's "Singing in the Rain."
After six weeks, the researchers conducted informal interviews with the participants and found improvements in participants' moods, quality of life and communication abilities. Most participants also showed improvement in their scores on a standard language skills test.
"YouTube is a feasible means of conducting computerized based [reminiscence therapy]," the researchers wrote in their findings, published Aug. 31 in the journal Age and Aging. "[T]his small cohort of participants had an increased sense of well-being and mood, and displayed greater communicative participation and engagement in the group," the researchers said.
The researchers noted there were too few participants in the study to make any firm conclusions about the therapy's specific benefits. Larger studies are needed before final conclusions are made. The study was conducted by researchers at the Adelaide & Meath Hospital Tallaght in Dublin.
We proposed that the website YouTube would be a valuable tool in supporting the delivery of internet-based personalised computerised reminiscence therapy.
‘YouTube’: a useful tool for reminiscence therapy in dementia?
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Bob DeMarco is the Founder of the Alzheimer's Reading Room and an Alzheimer's caregiver. The blog contains more than 2,910 articles with more than 652,100 links on the Internet. Bob lives in Delray Beach, FL.
Original content Bob DeMarco, the Alzheimer's Reading Room