One of the primary modalities used for the treatment of depression in elderly women is medication. Antidepressant medications lead to harmful side effects without alleviating the underlying depression. For these reasons, there is a need to research alternative therapies for treatment of depression in the older female. Reminiscence offers a possible intervention for treatment of depression in older women.

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Depression is a major public health problem for older women. Medications do not always decrease depression. Therefore, there is a need to research alternative approaches to dealing with depression in this age group. Structured reminiscence has been suggested as a cognitive behaviour approach for dealing with depression in older women. However, the research is limited. This article presents a research study using a structured reminiscence protocol to decrease depression in older women. This study found significant positive results. First, structured reminiscence decreases depression levels of women 60 years and older residing in assisted living facilities when offered twice weekly for 6-week duration to document significant improvement in depression scores. Second, engagement in reminiscence must occur longer than 3 weeks to measure a significant improvement in depression scores. The study also recommends screening of all older women admitted to assisted living facilities for depression on admission and offering education to nurses working with older adults to educate them on the positive effects of structured reminiscence group interventions.

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