Effects of olfactory stimulation on reminiscence practice in community-dwelling elderly individuals

There has been little research on reminiscence cues and their effectiveness. The purpose of the present study was to measure the effects of reminiscence practice using olfactory stimuli on the mental health and cognitive functions of community-dwelling elderly individuals.

Written consent was obtained from 72 eligible community-dwelling elderly individuals. They were non-randomly divided into an intervention group and a control group. In the intervention group (n = 35), reminiscence practice was carried out bi-weekly using olfactory stimulation as the cue for eight sessions. In the control group (n = 37), reminiscence practice was carried out without olfactory stimulation. The Geriatric Depression Scale-15 and the Five-cog Test were used as the methods of assessment at baseline and again after completion of the intervention. Participants in the final analysis were 27 individuals in the intervention group and 33 individuals in the control group.

At baseline, a significant difference was seen between the groups depending on the existence of a spouse. Repeated measures analysis of covariance with the existence of a spouse as a covariate showed a significant difference between the two groups in changes in Geriatric Depression Scale-15 scores (P = 0.038). Furthermore, analysis of the participants sorted into a depression symptoms group and a non-depression symptoms group showed a significant group main effect (P = 0.033) and interaction (P = 0.049) in the depression symptoms group.

The results suggest that reminiscence intervention using olfactory stimulation may maintain the mental health of community-dwelling elderly individuals.