MAKS therapy

The MAKS therapy is a multimodal, resource conserving, hence non-drug therapy for people with dementia . MAKS is an abbreviation for M otorische, A lltagspraktische, K ognitive and S ocial activation.

Brief description

In order to obtain better evidence on the effectiveness of non-drug interventions in degenerative dementias, the manualized MAKS therapy was developed in the Medical Psychology and Medical Sociology Department of the Erlangen University Psychiatric Clinic. It was scientifically verified in a methodologically demanding study. Elmar Gräßel was responsible as the project manager . At the MAKS therapy is a specially dementia to the needs of people agreed concept for integrated resource extraction, which consists of four components: M otorische , A lltagspraktische and K ognitive activation with S OCIAL match. The study funded by the Federal Ministry of Health as part of the Dementia Lighthouse Project was carried out from December 2008 to January 2010 and was aimed at people with dementia in nursing homes . In 2011 the MAKS project was awarded the Erlangen Prize for Medicine and Technology in the Health and Prevention category. Further possible uses are currently being examined in practice under scientific supervision.

MAKS and MAKS-Therapy are protected brand names.

effect

Initial studies showed symptom improvements in mild and moderate dementias (e.g. with regard to cognition, mood, everyday practical skills), which were in part still noticeable 10 months after the end of the therapy phase.

Resource Conserving Therapy

This term has significant advantages over the previous terms "non-medicinal" or "non-pharmacological". First, avoiding the prefix “not” helps to resolve the misunderstanding that the use of “resource conserving therapy” is directed against the use of drugs. It is true that “resource-conserving therapy” and pharmacotherapy are two different forms of therapy. They can be combined with each other or used individually. Secondly, the term "resource-conserving therapy" specifies the direction and therapeutic potential of this form of treatment, namely the effect of maintaining abilities.

Web links

• MAKS therapy

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Handbook for MAKS therapy: B. Eichenseer, E. Gräßel (ed.): Activation therapy for people with dementia: motor, everyday practical, cognitive, spiritual. 2nd edition, Elsevier, Munich 2014, ISBN 978-3-437-28021-4 .
2. ↑ K. Luttenberger, C. Donath u. a .: Effects of multimodal nondrug therapy on dementia symptoms and need for care in nursing home residents with degenerative dementia: a randomized-controlled study with 6-month follow-up. In: Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. Volume 60, Number 5, May 2012, pp. 830-840, ISSN  1532-5415 . doi: 10.1111 / j.1532-5415.2012.03938.x . PMID 22468985 .
3. ↑ K. Luttenberger, B. Hofner, E. Graessel: Are the effects of a non-drug multimodal activation therapy of dementia sustainable? Follow-up study 10 months after completion of a randomized controlled trial. In: BMC neurology. Volume 12, 2012, p. 151, ISSN  1471-2377 . doi: 10.1186 / 1471-2377-12-151 . PMID 23217188 . PMC 3527171 (free full text).
4. ↑ Elmar Gräßel, Jelena Siebert, Gudrun Ulbrecht, Renate Stemmer: What do “non-drug” therapies do for dementia? In: German Center for Age Issues (Hrsg.): Information service age issues . tape 40 , no. 2 , 2013, ISSN  1614-3566 , p. 9–16 ( dza.de [PDF]).

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