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

Contains fulltext : 70618.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access)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