Using an Electronic Diary to Bolster Self-Esteem in Persons with Early-Stage Dementia
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12970/2310-8231.2014.02.01.3Keywords:
Self-esteem, frontotemporal dementia, Alzheimer’s disease.Abstract
Persons with early-stage dementia are at risk for decreasing self-esteem because they perceive discrepancies between their actual self-state and their preclinical self-state. We developed a psychological intervention that uses diaries with entries related to positive self-worth for persons with early-stage dementia. We report three exploratory case studies with a 59-year-old male with frontotemporal dementia (Mr. A), and a 53-year-old male (Mr. B) and a 46-year-old female (Ms. C) with Alzheimer’s disease. Participants were asked to read their diaries focusing either on achievement, positive interpersonal, or other themes, and rate their self-esteem before and after. Mr. A demonstrated improvement of self-esteem after reading diaries focused on achievement themes. Mr. B demonstrated improvement after reading diaries focused on interpersonal themes. However, Ms. C did not show improvement of self-esteem. These results suggest that reading diaries focused on achievement or positive interpersonal themes could bolster the self-esteem of some persons with early-stage dementia.
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