Mindfulness Research Program: Designed to Enhance Wellbeing in People Living With Dementia and Their Spouses
Mindfulness Research Program: Designed to Enhance Wellbeing in People Living With Dementia and Their Spouses
People with dementia forget things and have trouble concentrating. In addition, they and
 their caregivers can become depressed. This project will show whether Mindfulness-Based
 Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) can lessen depression, increase attention spans and improve quality
 of life for those affected by the disease and their caregivers.

 MBCT combines intensive training in mindfulness meditation with Cognitive Behavioural
 Therapy. Studies show the meditation component creates changes in areas of the brain
 associated with our ability to pay attention. This form of meditation can help those impacted
 by dementia become more aware of their depressive thinking, leading to improved ways of
 coping.

 The investigators predict that individuals in the early stages of dementia and their spousal
 caregivers will report fewer depression symptoms following the 8-week Mindfulness-Based
 Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) Program, as well as experience improvements in quality of life and
 daily mindfulness.

 If successful, MBCT could improve the quality of life in individuals with dementia and their
 caregivers, as well as may take pressure off the health care system by delaying
 institutionalization.
The overall objective of the proposed study is to investigate the efficacy of
 Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) to alleviate depression symptoms, increase
 attention abilities, and improve quality of life in individuals with dementia and their
 caregivers. MBCT works to help individuals increase concentration and increase awareness of
 depressive thinking to ultimately provide a better means of coping and emotional regulation.

 While dementia is non-reversible and progressive in nature, supportive interventions,
 especially at the early stage of the disease, can make life more manageable for both dementia
 individuals and their caregivers. Along with the initial signs of forgetfulness and
 concentration difficulties, it is common for both individuals with dementia and their primary
 caregivers to also experience depression symptoms. For dementia individuals, depression
 symptoms are common early on as they still have insight into their disease. This increase in
 depression has been shown to be related to apathy, overall poorer quality of life and
 cognitive decline. Caregivers not only witness a significant change in daily functioning of
 someone they love and know well, they are also faced with new responsibilities associated
 with managing the disease, while simultaneously trying to juggling their own day-to-day
 tasks. These drastic changes and increased responsibilities have been shown to increase
 feelings of depression and burden, resulting in coping-related problems in caregivers.

 Counseling intervention in early stages of dementia has been shown to delay and even decrease
 patient admittance into long-term facilities, ultimately relieving stress placed on the
 healthcare system. MBCT is a specific program designed to, and proven successful at, treating
 various populations with recurrent depression. With its unique therapeutic approach of
 integrating intensive training in mindfulness meditation with Cognitive Behavioural Therapy,
 MBCT helps individuals pay greater attention, increase concentration, increase awareness of
 depressive thinking and learn to apply more skillful means of coping. In addition to treating
 depression, the meditation component of MBCT has also been shown to improve various aspects
 of attention and result in changes in neural networks implicated in attention processes. The
 investigators predict that MBCT will alleviate depression symptoms and increase quality of
 life in both patients and caregivers. The investigators also expect that individuals will
 experience improvements in attention and memory abilities.

 If successful, MBCT could improve overall quality of life in dementia individuals and
 caregivers, as well as benefit our healthcare system by delaying institutionalization. From a
 research perspective, success of this program may lead to a larger clinical controlled trial
 to further investigate the efficacy of MBCT in individuals affected by dementia.
Inclusion Criteria:

 -  Early stages of dementia

 -  Spousal caregiver (no signs of dementia/mild cognitive impairment)

 -  Evidence of at least mild depression (in at least one partner)

 -  Speak, read, and write in English

 Exclusion Criteria:

 -  Neurological Disorder (other than dementia for dementia group)

 -  Psychological Disorder