Prevention of loneliness and depression in elderly nursing home patients living in Amsterdam using life review therapy

INTERVENTION: Intervention: The life review consisted of autobiographical retrieval practice that entailed focusing on a particular life period each week ‐ childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and summary. For each period 14 quesions were asked that were designed to prompt specific memories. Examples of questions include ''What did your mother or father do one day when you were a child that astonished you?''. Intervention sessions were tape‐recorded and were scored by a psychologist. At pre‐ and post‐test the following questionnaires were administered: 1. Depressive symptoms (eight‐item Geriatric Depression Scale [GDS‐8]) 2. Cognitive functioning (Mini Mental State Examination [MMSE]) 3. Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI) (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of mental disorders [DSM] diagnoses depression and dysthymia) 4. Anxiety (Hamilton Anxiety and Depression Scale [HADS]) 5. Loneliness (De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale) 6. Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT) 7. Worrying (Penn State Worry Questionnaire [PSWQ]) 8. Neuroticism (Neuroticism‐Extraversion‐Openness Five‐Factor Inventory [NEO‐FFI]‐subscale) 9. Quality of life (Dutch Scale for Subjective well‐being of the elderly [SSWO], short Portable Mental Status (PMS) questionnaire, ''balans opmaken vragenlijst'') Control: Waiting list (after three months). CONDITION: Depressive symptoms ; Mental and Behavioural Disorders ; Depression PRIMARY OUTCOME: 1. Depression (GDS‐8, MINI‐interview) and loneliness (De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale); 2. Anxiety, HADS, autobiographical memory (AMT); ; Post‐treatment one or two weeks after ending intervention (four weeks after inclusion). SECONDARY OUTCOME: Analysing the influence of covariates on the outcome of the life review therapy (neuroticism [NEO‐FFI], worrying [PSWQ‐11], quality of life)/mastery (PMS). INCLUSION CRITERIA: 1. Aged over 65 2. Living in a nursing home 3. Normal cognitive functioning/no signs of dementia 4. No pharmacological treatment