Memoir-Creation Benefits Seniors
Early cognitive decline rarely appears first in formal assessments. It emerges gradually in the way older adults structure stories, recall details, or express emotion. Across LTCs and retirement homes, staff and families recognize these early changes long before BIMS or MoCA scores – which only capture occasional snapshots, with no longitudinal insights.
Using MemoirEase a caregiver can provide senior residents a fun activity, help record their memories for future generations, all while tracking early dementia indicators. It also involves the senior’s family sharing stories and increases social interaction.
Research has found that the process of creating a memoir helps seniors in various ways:
- Reduce depressive symptoms [1]
- Improve aspects of wellbeing (self-esteem, communication, quality of life) [2]
- Improving psychological well-being, social connection and engagement [3]
- Strengthen social bonds – caregiver-guided memoir (“shared remembering”) provides cognitive support and relationship building [4]
- Recent work has explored using writing and multimedia (graphic memoir, digital stories) as a form of cognitive rehabilitation for people with MCI/dementia, indicating possible cognitive, emotional and caregiver-relationship benefits. [5]
[1] Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, Volume 16, Issue 12, 1 December 2015, Pages 1087-1094, Reminiscence / life-review interventions (structured recall, storytelling, memoir writing) produce small-to-moderate improvements in cognitive function in older adults – especially those with mild cognitive impairment – and reduce depressive symptoms in many studies. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1525861015004892
[2] Int J Community Based Nurs Midwifery. 2018 Apr;6(2):136–145, Effectiveness of Life Review Therapy on Quality of Life in the Late Life at Day Care Centers of Shiraz, Iran: A Randomized Controlled Trial. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5845117
[3] J Med Internet Res. 2022 Jan 12;24(1):e28113. doi: 10.2196/28113. Digital Storytelling for Health-Related Outcomes in Older Adults: Systematic Review, https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8792772
[4] Trends Cogn Sci. 2022 Oct 1;26(12):1079–1089. doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2022.09.007, Autobiographical event memory and aging: Older adults get the gist. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9669242
[5] Front Neurol. 2025 Sep 2;16:1568336. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2025.1568336, Writing as cognitive rehabilitation in MCI and dementia: a systematic review of therapeutic benefits and applications. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12439494