Effects of Involvement in a Group-based Creative Expression Program on Psychotropic Drug Use in Persons With Dementia

Penn State Health

Status: Completed

Conditions: Dementia

Treatments: Behavioral: TimeSlips; Behavioral: Standard care activity program

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT01382693

36459 EP

Details and patient eligibility

About

This project, a small-scale pilot study, will attempt to determine if involvement in a group-based creative expression program may correlate with a reduction in use of psychotropic drugs for persons with dementia.

Full description

The study site has two skilled-nursing dementia Special Care Units. One unit will serve as a control with residents receiving the standard care activity program. The other unit will receive the standard care activity program as well as the TimeSlips storytelling program (two hour-long sessions per week for six weeks). The behavioral symptoms and psychotropic drug usage for both cohorts will be studied for eight months, the first four months with no intervention and the last four months with or without the six-week TimeSlips intervention.

Enrollment: 20 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 60+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion and exclusion criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

• residence in one of two dementia special-care skilled nursing units at the study site
• clinical diagnosis of dementia

Trial design

Primary purpose: Supportive Care

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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20 participants in 2 patient groups

TimeSlips group storytelling program

Experimental group

Treatment:

Behavioral: TimeSlips

Standard care activity program

Active Comparator group

Treatment:

Behavioral: Standard care activity program