| Abstrakt: |
Background: According to the literature, untreated depression among older adults is related to a higher likelihood of dementia (Saczynski et al., 2010). Behavioral Activation (BA) was developed as one of the effective interventions for decreasing depression. BA helps to understand and moderate daily behavior and emotions, which helps reduce depression. This study aimed to examine the effect of BA intervention using a digital device in older adults with depression. A digital device was used in this study to provide BA intervention stably in the face of a COVID‐19 pandemic. Method: A total of 60 older adults with depression participated in this study. Older adults in the intervention group (n = 30) used a tablet PC to participate in the daily one‐on‐one BA program from April to June 2022. Older adults in the control group (n = 30) used the companion robot (Hyodol). The Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) and UCLA Loneliness Scale (UCLA) were applied to the pre‐test and post‐test. Chi‐squared test and Mann‐Whitney U test were conducted to test homogeneity between the two groups. Mann‐Whitney U test and a Wilcoxon signed rank test were conducted to compare the effect between two groups and changes within group. SPSS 26.0 was used for all analyses. Result: Two groups were homogeneous in socio‐demographics. In the intervention group, the mean scores of the GDS and UCLA pre‐test were 9.7 (SD = 3.33) and 52.23 (SD = 5.40), respectively. In the control group, the pre‐test mean scores for GDS and UCLA were 10.63 (SD = 3.41) and 52.20 (SD = 6.26), respectively. The decreases in depression and loneliness in the intervention were statistically significant (depression: Z = ‐1.959, p < 0.01; loneliness: Z = ‐2.690, p < 0.01). The decrease in depression in the control group was statistically significant (Z = 2.824, p<0.01), but the decrease in loneliness was not statistically significant (Z = ‐1.494, p = 0.135) (table 1). Conclusion: The results support that BA program using digital device was effective in decreasing depression of older adults with depression. BA intervention using digital device can be considered as approaches for older adults with depression to prevent dementia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
