Author: Paller KA1, Creery JD2, Florczak SM3, Weintraub S4, Mesulam MM4, Reber PJ3, Kiragu J5, Rooks J3, Safron A3, Morhardt D4, O'Hara M4, Gigler KL3, Molony JM3, Maslar M5.
Affiliation: 1Department of Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience Program, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer's Disease Center, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA *Ken A. Paller and Jessica D. Creery shared co-first-authorship for this article. kap@northwestern.edu. 2Department of Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience Program, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA *Ken A. Paller and Jessica D. Creery shared co-first-authorship for this article. 3Department of Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience Program, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA. 4Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer's Disease Center, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA. 5The Family Institute, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA.
Conference/Journal: Am J Alzheimers Dis Other Demen.
Date published: 2014 Aug 25
Other:
Word Count: 169
New strategies are needed to help people cope with the repercussions of neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease. Patients and caregivers face different challenges, but here we investigated an intervention tailored for this combined population. The program focused on training skills such as attending to the present moment nonjudgmentally, which may help reduce maladaptive emotional responses. Patients participated together with caregivers in weekly group sessions over 8 weeks. An assessment battery was individually administered before and after the program. Pre-post analyses revealed several benefits, including increased quality-of-life ratings, fewer depressive symptoms, and better subjective sleep quality. In addition, participants indicated that they were grateful for the opportunity to learn to apply mindfulness skills and that they would recommend the program to others. In conclusion, mindfulness training can be beneficial for patients and their caregivers, it can be delivered at low cost to combined groups, and it is worthy of further investigation.
© The Author(s) 2014.
KEYWORDS:
Alzheimer’s disease; caregiver stress; mild cognitive impairment; mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR); neurodegenerative disorders
PMID: 25154985