A randomized controlled trial comparing the efficacy of art therapy and mindfulness on depression, anxiety, and stress among elderly people living in old age homes in Salem district, Tamil Nadu
Abinivesh Lakshmanan, Sendilkumar Balasundaram, Divya Gopalakrishnan, Tamilchudar Raju, Niranjan Muralikrishnan, Priyanka KrishnamoorthyBACKGROUND:
The mental health burden (depression, stress, anxiety) is significant among institutionalized elderly. The interventions, such as art therapy and mindfulness, have gained importance in managing common mental health disorders. This three-arm parallel randomized controlled trial (RCT) aimed to assess the efficacy of art therapy and mindfulness intervention among the elderly.
MATERIALS AND METHODS:
A three-arm, parallel-group RCT was conducted in six selected old age homes. Study sites were selected using the probability proportional to size sampling method to ensure a representative sample. A total of 240 elderly residents aged 60 and over were recruited using simple random sampling through the lottery method. The participants were then randomly divided into three groups: two intervention groups (combining art therapy and mindfulness) and a control group (CG) that received routine activities of daily living. The baseline assessment (T0) was carried out before the intervention, and the post intervention assessment (T1) was carried out after the end of the intervention period. The Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale-21 was used as a standardized instrument to measure the outcome variables.
RESULTS:
All the 240 participants were divided equally and randomly allocated to the predetermined groups. The mean and standard deviation of age were found to be 72.10 ± 9.74 years. Post intervention, the participants in “extremely severe” category were reduced from 36 (15%) to 28 (11.7%) in depression, 116 (48.3%) to 97 (40.4%) in anxiety, and 2 (0.8%) to 1 (0.4%) in stress. After the intervention, art therapy showed significant within-group reductions in depression, anxiety, and stress. Compared to the CG, both art therapy and mindfulness showed significant reductions in depression, anxiety, and stress (
CONCLUSION:
The combined art therapy and mindfulness program is a demonstrated short-term effectiveness, scalable intervention for improving the mental well-being of institutionalized older adults. These interventions can be integrated into elderly mental health care to enhance the emotional well-being of the elderly.