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. |
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Interventions | Intervention: group RT. Control: no treatment. Supported group therapy (not included in this review). |
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Outcomes | Cognitive: MMSE. Behavioural: Katz Index Activities of Daily Living. Mood‐related outcomes: Beck Depression Inventory. |
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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. |