A cognitive behavioural group therapy for patients diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment and their significant others: feasibility and preliminary results

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the feasibility and present preliminary results of a cognitive behavioural group therapy for patients with mild cognitive impairment and their significant others.

Design: One group pretest—posttest design.

Subjects: Twenty-two patients with mild cognitive impairment and their significant others, running in four group programmes.

Intervention: The main goal of the cognitive behavioural group therapy was to strengthen adaptive behaviour in 10 weekly 2-hour sessions.

Main measures: Distress and mood: The RAND-36, Geriatric Depression Scale — short form; Acceptance and helplessness: Subscales Acceptance and Helplessness from the Illness Cognition Questionnaire; Marital satisfaction: Maudsley Marital Questionnaire; Alertness to memory failure and behaviour changes: Informant Questionnaire on Cognitive Decline in the Elderly and the Revised Memory and Behaviour Problems Checklist Burden. The burden of caregiving reported by the significant others: Sense of competence Questionnaire and Behaviour Problems Checklist Burden, Hindrance subscale.

Results: No changes were found on distress and mood measures in both patients and their significant others. Patients showed a significant increased level of acceptance (P<0.05) and a trend for an increased marital satisfaction (P<0.1). The significant others reported an increased awareness of memory and behavioural problems (P<0.05). Attendance was high, indicating a high motivation for this intervention.

Conclusion: Preliminary results show evidence for positive changes after a cognitive behavioural group therapy for patients with mild cognitive impairment and their significant others. In addition, the developed programme is applicable and feasible. The programme's effectiveness should be studied further, with an estimated sample size of 70 couples in a controlled study design.

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