Date of Defense

4-18-2012

Date of Graduation

4-28-2012

Department

Occupational Therapy

First Advisor

Nicholas Andreadis, Lee Honors College

Second Advisor

Carla Chase

Third Advisor

Maureen Mickus

Keywords

Depression in older adults, bibliotherapy

Abstract

The purpose of this literature review is to explore the effectiveness of cognitive bibliotherapy as a treatment for depression in older adults. It also aims to present information on the prevalence of depression in the elderly and how it is commonly overlooked as a part of the normal aging process. From this information, reasons are discussed that suggest cognitive bibliotherapy may be a sufficient alternative for the treatment of depression in this age group; including the approach it takes in handling life changes, and how it compares on multiple levels to other treatments for depression. Contraindicative factors for the treatment of depression through cognitive bibliotherapy are also expressed and described. For the scope of this paper, cognitive bibliotherapy and mild to moderate depression have been defined in detail, and the results of studies pertaining to these subjects will be presented. Only four studies have been published that demonstrate the effects of cognitive bibliotherapy for depression in the older adult population, and only one of them contained a substantial amount of very old adults. Therefore, a gap identified by this proposal presents the lack of evidence for cognitive bibliotherapy for depression and its effectiveness in the very old adult population, aged 70 and older. Also, all of the studies containing older adults used the same self-help book as their cognitive bibliotherapy intervention, hence this was another gap found by this literature review.

Access Setting

Honors Thesis-Restricted

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