Table 2.

Baseline Study Characteristics.

Authors, country and year of publication	Activity	Objective(s)	Participants	Measures
Chao et al., Taiwan, 2006	Reminiscence therapy	To describe the effect of participation in reminiscence group therapy on older nursing home residents’ depression, self-esteem and life satisfaction	Nursing home residents	GDS-S (Geriatric Depressive Scale-Short Edition), Rosenberg Self-esteem Survey (RSE), Life satisfaction is the participants’ subjective response to their lives and surroundings as measured by the Quality of Life Index (QLI)
Chiang et al., Taiwan, 2009	Reminiscence therapy	To examine the effects of reminiscence therapy on psychological well-being, depression, and loneliness among institutionalised elderly people	Nursing home residents	Center for epidemiological studies depression scale (CES-D), Symptoms checklist-90-R (psychological well-being), Revised University of California Los Angeles loneliness scale (RULS-V3), Mini-mental state examination (MMSE) (cognitive screening measurement)
Haslam et al., UK, 2010	Reminiscence therapy	To provide a theory-driven evaluation of reminiscence based on a social identity framework. This framework predicts better health outcomes for group-based interventions as a result of their capacity to create a sense of shared social identification among participants	Residents in standardised and specialised care units	Cognitive performance (Addenbrookes cognitive examination – revisited (ACE-R)), well-being (Hospitality Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), Quality of Life in Alzheimers Disease Scale (QoL-AD), Life Improvement scale, Quality of Life Change scale), identity (Personal identity strength, social group homogeneity)
Karimi et al., Iran, 2010	Reminiscence therapy	To examine the therapeutic effectiveness of integrative and instrumental types of reminiscence for the treatment of depression in institutionalised older adults dwelling in a nursing home	Nursing home residents	GDS-15 to measure depression, MMSE to measure cognitive performance
Serrani Azcurra, Argentina, 2012	Reminiscence therapy	To investigate whether a specific reminiscence programme is associated with higher levels of quality of life in nursing homes residents with dementia	Nursing home residents with dementia	The Social Engagement Scale (SES) and Self Reported Quality of Life Scale (SRQoL)
Stinson et al., USA, 2005	Reminiscence therapy	To assess the effect of group reminiscence on depression and self-transcendence of older women residing in an assisted living facility. One objective was to determine if depression decreased in older women after structured reminiscence group sessions held twice-weekly for a six-week period. A second objective was to determine if self-transcendence increased after structured reminiscence group sessions held twice-weekly for a six-week period	Residents at assisted living facilities, women	Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), Self-Transcendence Scale (STS)
Tsai et al., Taiwan, 2010	Video-conference programme	To evaluate the effectiveness of a video-conference intervention programme in improving nursing home residents’ social support, loneliness and depressive status	Nursing home residents	Social Supportive Behavior Scale, University of California Los Angeles Loneliness Scale, and Geriatric Depression Scale
Winningham et al., US, 2008	Cognitive intervention	To assess the effectiveness of a cognitive intervention on residents’ levels of social support and loneliness	Residents at assisted living facilities	Social Support Appraisal (SS-A), Social Support Behaviors (SS-B), UCLA Loneliness Scale)
Theurer et al., Canada, 2014	Support group intervention	To present a rationale for and describe a new intervention involving mutual support groups in Long Term Care Homes (LTCH); evaluate its process, structure, and content; and provide evidence that supports refinement and replication	Residents and staff at long term care homes	No predeveloped measures, but themes identified based on interviews with residents and staff: building relationships, helping one another, sharing fears and burdens, and having a say
Gudex et al., Denmark, 2010	Reminiscence therapy	To investigate the consequences for nursing home residents and staff of integrating reminiscence into daily nursing care	Nursing home residents	Cohen-Mansfield Agitation Inventory (CMAI), Alzheimers Disease Related Quality of Life (ADRQL), Gottfries-Bråne-Steen scale (GBS) to measure the general functioning of people with dementia, Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Severe Impairment Battery – short form (SIB-S), Maslach Burnout inventory – Human Services Survey (MBI-HSS), Satisfaction with Nursing Care and Work Assessment (SNCW), Short Form-12v2 measuring self-assessed health status