Benchmarks for Evaluating Life Review and Reminiscence Therapy in Alleviating Depression among Older Adults

The efficacy of reminiscence and life review (LR) therapy in alleviating depression among older adults is well established. However, providers in nonresearch settings might implement these interventions inadequately, and such settings rarely can evaluate their outcomes using control groups. Alternatively, evaluators in such settings can calculate a within-group effect size and then compare it with average within-group effect size benchmarks derived from the randomized clinical trials (RCTs) supporting the intervention's effectiveness. This study developed these within-group effect size benchmarks. A search of RCTs from five systematic reviews and meta-analyses, and more recent RCTs published through 2016, yielded 25 studies that met inclusion criteria. Hedge's g for LR recipients and waitlist controls were .598 and -.20, respectively, and .568 and -.012 for reminiscence theory. These benchmarks offer an approach for evaluating the implementation of LR and reminiscence therapy when control groups are infeasible.