MINDFULNESS BASED STIMULATION FOR ELDERLY PEOPLE WITH ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE OR OTHER TYPES OF DEMENTIA

Abstract

Psychological treatments are a common practice in healthcare centres for elderly dependent people. Recently, mindfulness practice is being introduced in these settings. However, it is difficult to carry out mindfulness practice in residential or day care centres due to the cognitive impairment of the elderly users. This paper shows how a mindfulness based stimulation program for activities of daily life (ADLs) has been developed. This intervention aims to train care assistants to the elderly together with the elderly people themselves so that afterwards, within the routine at the centre, daily life activities can be carried out with conscious presence. The ultimate purpose of this intervention is to strengthen functional coherence and personal integration through the practice of mindfulness in action with basic, instrumental and advanced activities.

Keywords

• Key words: Mindfulness
• Activities of daily living
• nursing home care
• Cognitive impairment
• Non-pharmacological treatments.