NCT06527625

Cultural Arts Programme for Older Chinese

Cultural Arts for Reducing Depressive Symptoms and Age-related Self-stigma in Older People: a Randomised Waitlist Controlled Trial

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 63 (actual)
• Sponsor: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 60 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

This study examines the effectiveness of an innovative cultural arts program in reducing depressive symptoms and age-related self-stigma among older Chinese as compared to service as usual through a randomized waitlist controlled trial.

Detailed description

Depressive symptoms are common among community-dwelling older people, and prevention and early detection can reduce the incidence of depressive disorders. However, internalized ageism and stigma of mental illness may disempower older people and impede help-seeking behaviors among those at risk of depression. Nonpharmacological interventions may reduce stigma, and among different approaches, arts-based programs are gaining attention because arts are deemed enjoyable, stigma-free, and conducive to mental health. This study adopts a waitlist-controlled trial and examines the effectiveness of an innovative cultural art programme to combat internalised ageism and reduce depressive symptoms compared with service as usual. Community-dwelling older adults (age 60 years and over) at risk for depression will be recruited and randomised to receive cultural arts (experimental group) or service as usual (waitlist control group). Assessments will be administered by trained researcher(s) at baseline (T0), and completion of the 9-session intervention (T1). Effectiveness analyses will be based on changes in assessments at different time points between intervention and control groups.

Conditions

• Depressive Symptoms
• Ageism
• Older Adults
• Psychosocial Intervention
• Art

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Cultural Arts Program	9-session group art program using Chinese calligraphy as the channel for gaining emotional awareness and facilitating expression
BEHAVIORAL	Treatment as usual	Treatment as usual provided in local community aged care centres

Timeline

• Start date: 2024-01-01
• Primary completion: 2024-12-31
• Completion: 2025-06-30
• First posted: 2024-07-30
• Last updated: 2025-09-12

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Hong Kong