Participation in Life-Review Playback Theater Enhances Mental Health of Community-Dwelling Older Adults: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Playback theater is a form of improvisational theater that combines artistic expression with an exploration of life stories in a group creative process. The goal of the current study was to examine an integrative intervention for older adults, which includes participation in playback theater in accordance with the life-review method. We examined the effect of the intervention on the positive and negative aspects of mental health among community-dwelling older adults in adult day centers. In a randomized controlled trial, data were collected from 78 participants consisting of older adults in 4 adult day centers (Mage=79.60 years, SD=6.89: range=63–96), randomly assigned to a 12-week playback theater group or care-as-usual group. The participants reported on aspects of mental health and mental illness before, immediately after, and 3 months after the intervention. The results show a significant Time × Group interaction, validating the intervention’s effectiveness for improving positive mental health indices: self-acceptance, personal growth, relationships with others, satisfaction with relationships, current well-being, positive affect, meaning in life, satisfaction with life, and self-esteem as well as depressive symptoms. This improvement remained stable 3 months after the intervention. Our findings confirm that a structured short-term creative group intervention, which integrates life review with playback theater participation, induces a strong and persistent positive psychological effect in community-dwelling older adults. The current study suggests that this type of creative intervention in the community may provide an opportunity for older adults to flourish and experience psychological growth.