The Couples Life Story Approach: A Dyadic Intervention for Dementia

Abstract

This article describes an approach for working with individuals who have dementia, along with their spouses or partners. The 5-week intervention focuses on helping couples communicate, reminisce about the story of their relationship, find photographs and mementoes from their past, and develop a book that incorporates these mementoes. This clinical approach highlights the strengths and the resilience of couples and adds to the limited repertoire of dyadic interventions for dementia care which are currently available. Preliminary findings from 24 couples are presented, including the intervention's feasibility and acceptability.

Keywords:

• memory loss
• caregiving
• strengths-based
• resilience

Acknowledgments

We express our appreciation to Louis Burgio and Joe Himle for their consultation on translational research methods, to Barbara Haight and Yukiko Kurokowa for their assistance with intervention development, and to the graduate students involved on the research team. We also thank the Michigan Institute for Clinical and Health Research (UL1RR024986), NIA Training Grant AG000117, and the University of Michigan School of Social Work for their financial support. In addition, we appreciate the University of Michigan Alzheimer's Disease Center, the Alzheimer's Association (Great Lakes Michigan Chapter, Greater Michigan Chapter, and Northwest Ohio Chapter), and the University of Michigan Geriatrics Center for their assistance with recruitment.