Guidelines for Creating, Implementing, and Evaluating Mind-Body Programs in a Military Healthcare Setting.

Research suggests that the development of mind-body skills can improve individual and family resilience, particularly related to the stresses of illness, trauma, and caregiving. To operationalize the research evidence that mind-body skills help with health and recovery, Samueli Institute, in partnership with experts in mind-body programming, created a set of guidelines for developing and evaluating mind-body programs for service members, veterans, and their families. The Guidelines for Creating, Implementing, and Evaluating Mind-Body Programs in a Military Healthcare Setting outline key strategies and issues to consider when developing, implementing, and evaluating a mind-body focused family empowerment approach in a military healthcare setting. Although these guidelines were developed specifically for a military setting, most of the same principles can be applied to the development of programs in the civilian setting as well. The guidelines particularly address issues unique to mind-body programs, such as choosing evidence-based modalities, licensure and credentialing, safety and contraindications, and choosing evaluation measures that capture the holistic nature of these types of programs. The guidelines are practical, practice-based guidelines, developed by experts in the fields of program development and evaluation, mind-body therapies, patient- and family-centered care, as well as, experts in military and veteran's health systems. They provide a flexible framework to create mind-body family empowerment programs and describe important issues that program developers and evaluators are encouraged to address to ensure the development of the most impactful, successful, evidence-supported programs possible.

The first therapeutic game specifically designed and evaluated for Alzheimer's disease.

The first therapeutic game specifically developed for Alzheimer's disease was evaluated on an NIH grant. It was hypothesized that the game would have a positive influence on factors influencing quality of life (eg, mood, pleasure, interest in activities) and family comfort level in visiting. The study used a single group, within-participants, design, and 2 control conditions including a family visit as usual. The Observed Emotion Rating Scale for assessing individuals with Alzheimer's disease was administered with a questionnaire for the family to provide their own evaluation. Reduction of signs of depression/sadness using the game were statistically significant. An increase in patient pleasure was highly significant (P < .0001). Increases in patient interest, patient satisfaction, and family member satisfaction were all highly significant (P < .0001). The qualitative appeal of the game to family members was very high. The game provides a meaningful one-on-one intervention for individuals with advanced dementia.

The impact of professionally conducted cultural programs on the physical health, mental health, and social functioning of older adults.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to measure the impact of professionally conducted community-based cultural programs on the physical health, mental health, and social activities of individuals aged 65 and older. DESIGN AND METHODS: Participants in the study were 166 healthy, ambulatory older adults from the Washington, DC, area. We assigned them to either an intervention (chorale) or comparison (usual activity) group and assessed them at baseline and after 12 months. RESULTS: Results obtained from utilizing established assessment questionnaires and self-reported measures, controlling for any baseline differences, revealed positive findings for the effectiveness of the intervention such that the intervention group reported a higher overall rating of physical health, fewer doctor visits, less medication use, fewer instances of falls, and fewer other health problems than the comparison group. The intervention group also evidenced better morale and less loneliness than the comparison group. In terms of activity level, the comparison group evidenced a significant decline in total number of activities, whereas the intervention group reported a trend toward increased activity. IMPLICATIONS: The positive impact of participatory art programs for older adults in this study on overall health, doctor visits, medication use, falls, loneliness, morale, and activities reflects important health promotion and prevention effects and a reduction of risk factors driving the need for long-term care.