The Effect of Drama Therapy on Depressive Symptoms and Quality of Life among Older Adults in Residential Care Facilities. رسالة دكتوراة

Abstract

Background: Drama therapy is an effective therapeutic modality for managing psychological health and quality of life. There are limited studies examining the effect of drama therapy on depressive symptoms and quality of life among older adults globally and in Israel. Therefore, this study purposed to evaluate the effect of drama therapy on depressive symptoms and quality of life among older adults in residential care facilities in Israel. Methods: A pre–post-test control group design was utilized and 160 older adults were selected using a simple random method from the residential care facilities in Israel, where they were distributed into a control group (n=80) and an experimental group (n=80). The experimental group received eight sessions of drama therapy and the control group received usual care. A self-reporting questionnaire included the Geriatric Depression Scale and the WHOQOL-OLD-BREF. Results: The findings revealed that all participants in both groups had mild depressive symptoms (control M= 6.84, SD=1.55; experimental M= 7.23, SD=1.41) and poor quality of life (control M= 10.55, SD= 0.93; experimental M= 10.29, SD=0.77) before intervention and there were no differences between two groups. There was a reduction in depressive symptoms (control [M= 6.78, SD=1.46]; experimental [M=5.46, SD= 1.58]) and increasing in quality of life (control [M= 10.63, SD= 0.94]; experimental [M=12.64, SD= 0.89]) after intervention for both groups. Significant differences were found between the two groups after intervention in depressive symptoms and quality of life (p < .001), indicating that the experimental group had higher improvements in the aforementioned variables compared to control group. VI Conclusions: Overall, drama therapy is an effective method for minimizing depressive symptoms and enhancing quality of life among older adults in residential care facilities. This therapy could be adjunct to usual care to minimize the levels of depressive symptoms and improve quality of life among older adults. Keywords: depressive symptoms; drama therapy; quality of life; residential care facilities