MINDFULNESS BASED STIMULATION FOR ELDERLY PEOPLE WITH ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE OR OTHER TYPES OF DEMENTIA

Psychological treatments are a common practice in health care centres for elderly dependent people. Recently, mindfulness practice is being introduced in these settings. However, it is difficult to carry out mindfulness practice in residential or daily care centres due to the cognitive impairment of the elderly users. This paper shows how a mindfulness based stimulation program for daily life activities (DLA) has been developed. This intervention aims to train assistants to the elderly along with the elderly themselves so that afterwards, within the routine at the centre, daily life activities can be done with conscious presence. The ultimate purpose of this intervention is to strengthen functional coherence and personal integration through the practice of mindfulness in action with basic, instrumental or advanced activities.