Effectiveness of a nurse-led digital reminiscence program on social interaction, affect and engagement in residential dementia care: a quasi-experimental study.
5 affiliations
- 1CR Santa Lucía, Madrid, Spain.
- 2Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Valdecilla (IDIVAL), Santander, Spain.
- 3Piccole Suore degli Anziani Abbandonati, Rome, Italy.
- 4Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Valdecilla (IDIVAL), Santander, Spain. [email protected].
- 5Facultad de Enfermería, Universidad de Cantabria, Santander, Spain. [email protected].
Abstract
Background
Digital reminiscence therapy (DRT) shows promise in dementia care, but evidence on social and affective outcomes in long-term care settings remains limited.Methods
A quasi-experimental study was conducted with 60 residents with dementia (Global Deterioration Scale stages 4-5) from two long-term care facilities. The intervention group received 12 nurse-led DRT sessions over six weeks, while the control group received usual care. Primary outcomes included social interaction, observable affect, and engagement, assessed at baseline (T0), post-intervention (T1), and four-week follow-up (T2) using linear mixed-effects models.Results
The intervention group showed improved engagement, positive affect, and social interaction compared with the control group across the study period. Improvements in engagement and positive affect were of large magnitude, while communication outcomes showed moderate-to-large effects. No clear changes were observed in global quality of life, although improvements were identified in the QoL-AD domains of personal relationships and meaningful activities.Conclusions
Nurse-led DRT appears to be a feasible psychosocial intervention associated with improved social and affective outcomes in residential dementia care. These findings support the potential value of structured, digitally supported reminiscence in routine nursing practice, although confirmation in larger and more diverse samples is still needed.
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BibTeX
@article{lorenaquintanal2026effectiveness,
title = {{Effectiveness of a nurse-led digital reminiscence program on social interaction, affect and engagement in residential dementia care: a quasi-experimental study.}},
author = {Pablo de Lorena-Quintanal and Gina Lladó-Jordan and Esther Domínguez-Valdés and Antonia Rodríguez-Rodríguez and Carmen Sarabia-Cobo},
journal = {BMC nursing},
year = {2026},
month = jul,
doi = {10.1186/s12912-026-05000-4},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42907965},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Effectiveness of a nurse-led digital reminiscence program on social interaction, affect and engagement in residential dementia care: a quasi-experimental study.
AU - Pablo de Lorena-Quintanal
AU - Gina Lladó-Jordan
AU - Esther Domínguez-Valdés
AU - Antonia Rodríguez-Rodríguez
AU - Carmen Sarabia-Cobo
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/07/01
JO - BMC nursing
DO - 10.1186/s12912-026-05000-4
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42907965
AB - Background Digital reminiscence therapy (DRT) shows promise in dementia care, but evidence on social and affective outcomes in long-term care settings remains limited.Methods A quasi-experimental study was conducted with 60 residents with dementia (Global Deterioration Scale stages 4-5) from two long-term care facilities. The intervention group received 12 nurse-led DRT sessions over six weeks, while the control group received usual care. Primary outcomes included social interaction, observable affect, and engagement, assessed at baseline (T0), post-intervention (T1), and four-week follow-up (T2) using linear mixed-effects models.Results The intervention group showed improved engagement, positive affect, and social interaction compared with the control group across the study period. Improvements in engagement and positive affect were of large magnitude, while communication outcomes showed moderate-to-large effects. No clear changes were observed in global quality of life, although improvements were identified in the QoL-AD domains of personal relationships and meaningful activities.Conclusions Nurse-led DRT appears to be a feasible psychosocial intervention associated with improved social and affective outcomes in residential dementia care. These findings support the potential value of structured, digitally supported reminiscence in routine nursing practice, although confirmation in larger and more diverse samples is still needed.
SN - 1472-6955
ER -