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Psychodrama with persons with dementia on zoom: Proof of concept
Brown Nancy, Cedar Tzippi, Tziraki Chariklia. Dementia (London, England), 2022-03-04
Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies
COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns created a global public health crisis generating mental health problems including social isolation, stress, and anxiety especially for persons with dementia and their carers. This article reports on the use of digital technology to maintain social connectivity via a virtual group session that focused on the topic of "what is home." Participants in this session included 16 day-care center clients representing an immigrant community identified with mild to moderate cognitive impairment. A trained psychodrama therapist conducted the virtual group meeting based on five key techniques: spectrogram, role reversal, doubling, mirroring, and soliloquy. The NVivo software was used for the qualitative analysis of the transcribed video recording to identify key themes based on grounded theory methodology. Zooming from home, clients engaged in significant social interaction. Findings of the NVivo analysis identified the following themes of "what is home": Emotions and home, Home is family, Home is community, and Reminiscence (with objects and traditions). Findings suggest that digital interactive technologies, like Zoom, enhance social connectivity thus mitigating the negative impact of social isolation for persons with dementia especially during pandemic lockdowns. Our pilot findings based on virtual group meetings from home demonstrate that participants can express significant emotive capacity and enhanced connectivity with one another despite a diagnosis of mild to moderate dementia. While larger studies are needed to confirm these findings, we suggest that this methodology may be used to support persons with dementia not only in times of pandemics but also as an addition to other community and home care services. Changes in reimbursement policies to include these innovative home services may be helpful in building more resilient communities for the more highly vulnerable populations.
Key findings
- Zooming from home, clients engaged in significant social interaction.
- Findings suggest that digital interactive technologies, like Zoom, enhance social connectivity thus mitigating the negative impact of social isolation for persons with dementia especially during pandemic lockdowns.
- Our pilot findings based on virtual group meetings from home demonstrate that participants can express significant emotive capacity and enhanced connectivity with one another despite a diagnosis of mild to moderate dementia.
- While larger studies are needed to confirm these findings, we suggest that this methodology may be used to support persons with dementia not only in times of pandemics but also as an addition to other community and home care services.
Why it matters
This small pilot found that people with mild to moderate cognitive impairment could interact socially in a virtual psychodrama group on Zoom. It suggests a way to reduce social isolation, but it did not test any effect on treating, curing, or preventing Alzheimer's disease.
Study details
- Participants16
- Evidence strengthLow
How this study scored 34/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design, effect reported and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (Dementia (London, England)) |
| Journal's citation record | 1 / 4 | Dementia: journal h-index 92 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29) |
| Study design | 0 / 12 | No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Strength of evidence | 1 / 5 | Rated “low” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 3 / 5 | 2022 — within 6 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 1 / 4 | 16 participants |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 3 / 3 | Studied in people (participant count stated) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | 1 / 7 | Cited 4 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-17) |
| Citations per year | 0 / 5 | 0.7 citations a year over 6 year(s) since 2022 |
| Impact for its field and year | 1 / 6 | Cited 0.6× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI) |
| Cited by studies here | 1 / 6 | Cited by 1 other studies in this library |
| Still being cited | 0 / 4 | Cited 2 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | 1 / 4 | Last-listed author Chariklia Tziraki: h-index 16 (OpenAlex, whole career) |
| Institution's track record | 1 / 3 | University of Edinburgh: institution h-index 1,367 (OpenAlex) |
| Multi-centre collaboration | 1 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 2 institution(s) in 2 countries |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 35236150) |
| Free to read | 0 / 2 | Behind a paywall — scores zero |
| Total | 34 / 100 | — |
What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →
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Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
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APA 7th
Nancy, B., Tzippi, C., & Chariklia, T. (2022). Psychodrama with persons with dementia on zoom: Proof of concept. Dementia (London, England). https://doi.org/10.1177/14713012221074484
Vancouver
Nancy B, Tzippi C, Chariklia T. Psychodrama with persons with dementia on zoom: Proof of concept. Dementia (London, England). 2022. doi:10.1177/14713012221074484. PMID: 35236150.
BibTeX
@article{nancy2022-35236150,
author = {Nancy, Brown and Tzippi, Cedar and Chariklia, Tziraki},
title = {{Psychodrama with persons with dementia on zoom: Proof of concept}},
journal = {Dementia (London, England)},
year = {2022},
doi = {10.1177/14713012221074484},
pmid = {35236150},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1177/14713012221074484}
}
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