Impacts of past memories on people affected by dementia version 1.1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The psychological impacts of nostalgia for people with dementia: a randomised double-blind controlled experimental study
IRAS ID
161394
Contact name
Sanda Umar Ismail
Contact email
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
ISRCTN54996662, ISRCTN
Research summary
Reminiscence and Life Review therapies use aspects of the past in an attempt to provide various psychological functions for people with dementia. However, it is not clear as to what it is about remembering the past which has any benefit. It may be that one of the factors that determine whether these activities are helpful is the type of memory that we ask people to recall.
We will be looking at whether remembering different types of memories (nostalgic versus non-nostalgic memories) generate different psychological feelings.
Research with people who don’t have dementia has shown that different types of memory can produce different psychological effects. So, in this research, we will be looking to see whether the same effects hold true for people who have recently been diagnosed with dementia. We will be using two methods of recalling nostalgic and non-nostalgic memories. One of the methods will involve playing music from the past to people and the other method will be to ask people to remember different types of events from their past. By investigating this, the research may be able to shed light on the way in which nostalgia buffers the psychological challenges of living with dementia. The research process itself is short and will last about forty five minutes. This will take place at the memory services and research centre where participants have been recruited.REC name
East of England - Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/EE/1135
Date of REC Opinion
18 Sep 2014
REC opinion
Unfavourable Opinion