Massage Therapy Journal Winter 2024

32 • Massage Therapy Journal

LEARN MORE For more information on how massage therapy can be used with people managing Alzheimer’s disease, read “A Touch of Compassion: Massage Therapy and Alzheimer’s Disease,” available at amtamassage.org/mtj.

“I do not ask the client to undress because consent is sticky with a person who has dementia. I do not want them to become confused about why they are undressed, who I am and what I am doing to them.” —KATIE BREWER

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patients with dementia that included 12 pairs of participants (dementia patients and caregivers). Before the interventions began, caregivers received a four-hour, full-body manual massage training course. Caregivers then gave 30-minute massages to the dementia patients once a week for a 10-week period. Researchers administered the Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia, Cohen-Mansfield Agitation Inventory, and Zarit Burden Scale assessments before and after each intervention. Results showed total scores on all questionnaires significantly decreased after the intervention. Additionally, two subscale scores of the Cornell Scale for Depression

in Dementia—behavioral disturbance and physical signs—reduced significantly. The study concluded that the preliminary evidence suggests that massage therapy provided by caregivers shows some significant benefits. A 2023 study 5 investigated the effectiveness of family caregiver-administered home-based massage in managing dementia symptoms, as well as reducing caregiver stress. The study comprised 38 pairs of participants (dementia patients and their family caregivers) who were randomly placed into either the experimental group or the control group. Caregivers underwent three, one-hour massage trainings. Patients then received a 30 minute, home-based massage from their

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