Depression is a common issue in institutionalized elderly people. The “Attentively Embracing Story” theory is applied to help individuals transform negative thoughts into positive, and reflect on spiritual healing. This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of a “Story-Centred Care Intervention Program” based on the “Attentively Embracing Story” theory in improving depressive symptoms, cognitive function, and heart rate variability in institutionalized elderly people. Seventy long-term care residents were recruited from two long-term care facilities and randomized into the story-centred care intervention (n = 35) and control groups (n = 35). We excluded five long-term care residents who did not complete the post-test measures and five long-term care residents who had interference events on the outcome measures. Finally, sixty long-term care residents (40 women and 20 men; age 84.3±5.98 years) were included in the final analysis. Data were collected at four times (pre-intervention and post-intervention, 1 and 3-month follow-up) and analyzed with the generalized estimating equation approach.Instruments, including Geriatric Depression Scale, Short Portable Mind Status Questionnaire, and a CheckMyHeart device to measure heart rate variability, were used in study. The degree of improvement in depressive symptoms was significantly higher in the story-centred care intervention group than in the control group after providing the story-centred care intervention program (p < .001) and at 1 and 3-month follow-up (p = .001, p = .006, respectively; GDS-15 score reduced 1.816 at the 3-month follow-up). Participants receiving the story-centred care intervention program showed significantly greater improvement than those in the control group in the cognitive function at 1and 3-month follow-up (p = .009, p = .024, respectively; SPMSQ score reduced 0.345 at the 3-month follow-up). The heart rate variability parameters (SDNN, RMSSD) did not show a statistically significant increase. However an increasing trend in the parameters was observed in the intervention group (SDNN increased 16.235ms at the 3-month follow-up; RMSSD increased 16.424 ms at the 3-month follow-up). In conclusions, the story-centred care intervention program was effective on the improvement of depressive symptoms and cognitive status in institutionalized elderly people.

抑郁症是在制度化老年人中的常见问题。运用“专心拥抱故事”理论来帮助个人将消极思想转变为积极思想，并反思精神康复。这项研究旨在研究基于“专心拥抱故事”理论的“故事式中心护理干预计划”在改善制度化老年人的抑郁症状，认知功能和心率变异性方面的有效性。从两个长期护理机构中招募了70名长期护理居民，并随机分为以故事为中心的护理干预（n = 35）和对照组（n = 35）。我们排除了五名未完成测试后措施的长期护理居民和五名对结果措施产生干扰事件的长期护理居民。最后，最终分析包括60名长期护理居民（40名女性和20名男性；年龄84.3±5.98岁）。在干预前和干预后1个月和3个月的4次中收集数据，并使用广义估计方程法进行分析，包括老年抑郁量表，便携式短时心理状态问卷和CheckMyHeart设备。在研究中使用了测量心率变异性的方法。提供以故事为中心的护理干预计划后，以故事为中心的护理干预组的抑郁症状改善程度显着高于对照组（p <.001），并且在随访1个月和3个月后（p分别为.001，p = .006；在3个月的随访中，GDS-15得分降低了1.816）。接受以故事为中心的护理干预计划的参与者在1个月和3个月的随访中，认知功能的改善显着高于对照组（分别为p = .009，p = .024； SPMSQ评分在治疗后降低0.345）。 3个月的随访）。心率变异性参数（SDNN，RMSSD）未显示出统计学上的显着增加。但是，在干预组中观察到了参数的增加趋势（SDNN在3个月的随访中增加了16.235ms； RMSSD在3个月的随访中增加了16.424 ms）。总之，以故事为中心的护理干预计划有效改善了制度化老年人的抑郁症状和认知状况。