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. 2018 Mar 1;2018(3):CD001120. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD001120.pub3

Goldwasser 1987.

Methods RCT.
Participants 30 participants with clinical diagnosis of dementia based on subjective criteria and MMSE scores. Recruited from a single nursing home in Virginia, USA.
20 participants were in groups relevant to this review.
 Mean age: 82.3 years.
Interventions Intervention: group RT.
Control: no treatment.
Supported group therapy (not included in this review).
Outcomes Cognitive: MMSE.
Behavioural: Katz Index Activities of Daily Living.
Mood‐related outcomes: Beck Depression Inventory.
Length and frequency of intervention 30 minutes, twice per week, for 5 weeks.
Time points measured Preintervention, 1 week' postintervention and 5 weeks' postintervention.
Number of participants who did not complete study 2/20 (10%).
Notes  
Risk of bias
Bias Authors' judgement Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias) Unclear risk Method unspecified, though paper stated, "thirty participants were initially selected...and randomly assigned to three groups of ten people."
Allocation concealment (selection bias) Unclear risk No details given.
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) 
 All outcomes Unclear risk Assessments carried out by a psychology graduate, a registered nurse and a 'practical nurse,' none of whom were aware of the groups to which participants were assigned. As staff were involved in carrying out the intervention, there may have been a risk of contamination.
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) 
 All outcomes Unclear risk 1 person in the intervention group died so the authors randomly excluded 1 person from each of the other 2 groups.
Selective reporting (reporting bias) Low risk All outcomes listed in the methods section were reported and there was no evidence of selective outcome reporting.
Other bias Unclear risk n/a.
Availability of training and supervision 
 Objective outcome measures Unclear risk Not formally specified in paper but facilitators seemed to have been coached on some factors, such as rapport, "non‐verbal expression" and ways to "help participants generate internal cues."
Availability of manual or protocol for intervention 
 All outcomes Low risk Paper reported that a structured reminiscence protocol was developed with user involvement.