Efficacy of Cognitive Stimulation Program for Community-Dwelling Solitary Elderlies with Mild Cognitive Impairment and Dementia

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to investigate the efficacy of 48-sessioned cognitive stimulation programs (CSP) in solitary elderlies with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia. METHODS: Among 194 subjects, 125 were CSP participants and 69 were controls. Korean version of Mini-Mental Status Examination for Dementia Screening (MMSE-DS), Global Deterioration Scale, Seoul-Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (S-IADL) and Korean version of Geriatric Depression Scale-Short Form, Korean Quality of Life-Alzheimer's Disease (KQoL-AD) were assessed. Outcomes were measured at baseline and after 48th session. we analyzed these collected data. RESULTS: In CSP group, MMSE-DS (p8) was 0.873 (95% CI=0.773-0.985). CONCLUSION: CSP improved cognition and quality of life in solitary elderly individuals with MCI or dementia. Also, CSP reduced relative risk of MCI and dementia by 50.8% and ADL impairment by 12.7%. Although we expect CSP might be helpful to prevent cognitive problems of them, appropriate public mental health programs are still needed for their emotional wellbeing.

The relationship of self-management skills and the quality of life among solitary elderly patients with hypertension / 中国实用护理杂志

Objective To investigate the relationship of self-management skills and the quality of life among solitary elderly patients with hypertension.Methods 110 cases of solitary elderly patients with hypertension were measured with self-designed Self-management of Hypertension Scale and Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) and the correlation of them was analyzed.Results The levels of self-management skills of elderly hypertensive patients was at a middle level,and the mean score of self-management skills was (78.6 ± 5.2) points.The total score of SF-36 of patients with good self-management skills was higher than those with bad self-management skills.The therapy management,catering management,psychosocial management,sports management and overall quality of self-management of elderly patients with hypertension were positively correlated with survival quality.The factors influencing self-management ability of patients incuded education,gender,social resource utilization,psychological conditions.Conclusions Community health nurses should pay attention to self-management skills such as diet,exercise,therapy,social and psychological aspects in elderly hypertensive patients in order to improve their quality of life.Furthermore community nurses should strengthen intervention for solitary eldedy males with lower education level,poor utilization of social resources to improve their self-management skills.