Home-based exercise intervention for caregivers of persons with dementia: a randomised controlled trial: abridged secondary publication
WC Chan1, LCW Lam2, N Lautenschlager3,4,5, B Dow6, SL Ma2
1Department of Psychiatry, The University of Hong Kong
2Department of Psychiatry, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
3Academic Unit for Psychiatry of Old Age, Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
4NorthWestern Aged Mental Health, Royal Park Campus, Parkville, Australia
5School of Clinical Neurosciences and the Western Australia Centre and Health and Ageing, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia
6National Ageing Research Institute, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
 
 
1. Home-based structured exercise programme (12-step sitting Tai Chi) alleviates mild depressive symptoms among caregivers of persons with dementia.
2. Sitting Tai Chi also improves the balance ability of both caregivers and care recipients, and immediate word-list recall of care recipients.
3. As a traditional mind-body exercise widely practised by local older adults, sitting Tai Chi offers a low cost and safe treatment option for mild depressive symptoms in caregivers.