A non-drug dementia intervention piloted in German nursing homes proved as effective as medications in halting progression of disease, a new study reveals.

Scientists followed dementia patients from five Bavarian nursing homes for 12 months, with half of the residents receiving each facility’s standard treatment, and half receiving those treatments plus a new intervention program.

After a year, researchers compared participants in test and control groups using the Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Scale. They found that in residents with mild to moderate dementia, the non-medication therapy was “at least as good as treatment with cholinesterase inhibitors.” Additionally, the effect of the therapy on the Erlanger’s Test of Daily Living was “twice as high” as results achieved by medication, researchers said.

This new program, dubbed the “MAKS intervention,” included motor stimulation activities (M); cognitive stimulation, via group and individual puzzles (K); activities of daily living, such as gardening and crafting (A); and a “spiritual element,” which included singing hymns and discussing topics such as happiness. Individuals received this therapy in the nursing home for two hours per day, six days a week.

“MAKS therapy is able to extend the quality of, and participation in, life for people with dementia within a nursing home environment,” said lead researcher, Prof. Elmar Graessel. He noted that further study is underway “to see if this prevention of dementia decline can be maintained over a longer time period.”

The study was published in the December issue of the journal BMC Medicine.