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Introduction: Up to date, Traditional Chinese Medicine has not participated in the
reablement care to an appreciable extent. Furthermore, there is no clinical study to
confirm the efficacy of Traditional Chinese Medicine in this field. In this study, we
apply the ear acupoint application therapy to the reablement care of dementia. The
primary goal was to gain a fundamental understanding of the effects of Traditional
Chinese Medicine therapy and the degree of participation of Day Care Centers on
the behavior and psychological symptom of dementia.
Method: The method adopted in this study is based on the Retrospective Cohort
Study. In this work conducted from June 2016 to May 2018, 31 Dementia patients
who received ear acupoint application therapy and the control group comprising
32 people without the therapy were chosen. The magnetic intensity of therapy was set at 100 gauss and the ear acupoints included Ear Shenmen, Heart point,
Sympathetic nervous point and Subcortical point. Mini-Mental State Examination
(MMSE) was used to evaluate congetive function, and Activities of daily living
(ADL) used to evaluate the living skills of the patient. As to the participation
score of cognitive promotion course, it was evaluated by Dementia Care Mapping
(DCM).
Results: For those dementia patients who had been treated over a period of 4
weeks, the Neuropsychological Inventory Questionnaire scores were significantly
reduced; the average score decreased by -12.3±2.8. By contrast, the total average
score increased by 4.9±2.7 in the control group. This result showed a statistically
significant difference between the two groups based on Student’s t-test. It was then
concluded that Behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) of
the patients was improved significantly after the ear acupoint application therapy.
In addition, the detailed analysis showed that the most improved symptoms in
decreasing order is: depression or dysphoria > delusions > agitation or aggression
> hallucinations. It is noteworthy that, on the average, the Mood/Engagement
value of the patients increased by 2.8±1.0, whereas only an insignificant increase
(0.2±1.6) was observed in the control group. This result is statistically significant.
This study also revealed that the most significant efficacy was achieved over a
period of 4 weeks ear acupoint application therapy. Following up the patients
showed that the efficacy declined slowly, but there was no statistical significance
by Pair-Sample t test.
Conclusion: This study revealed that ear acupoint application therapy not only
relieved the BPSD of the patient (such as depression or dysphoria, delusions,
agitation or aggression and hallucinations) but also enhanced the participation
of cognitive promotion course. Thus, the ear acupoint application therapy is
recommended for the clinical care of dementia in the future.
Keywords：reablement care, traditional chinese medicine, ear acupoint application therapy, long-term care, dementia, behavior and psychological symptom of dementia
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231.5 耳穴磁珠療法改善失智患者精神症狀並提高認 知促進活動參與度－中醫復能照護先驅性研究
