Effects of Cognitive Bibliotherapy for Depressed Older Adults with a Disability

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of minimal-contact cognitive bibliotherapy for treating depression and improving functional abilities in older adults with a physical disability. Subjects were randomly assigned to either an experimental group which participated in a 4-week cognitive bibliotherapy program or a 4-week delayed treatment control condition. Results indicate that treated subjects showed greater improvement on depressive symptoms than untreated subjects and that the treatment effect was maintained over a 6-month period. However, treated subjects were only slightly more improved than untreated subjects on clinical indicators of change. Amelioration in functional abilities was observed between the end of treatment and the 6-month follow-up. The discussion examines the implications of these findings for the treatment of depression in older persons with a disability.