Efficacy of Cognitive Health Promotion Workbook for Community-Dwelling Elderlies with Mild Cognitive Impairment or Dementia Performed by Trained Dementia Partners

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to assess the efficacy of cognitive health promotion workbook for community-dwelling elderlies with mild cognitive impairment and dementia performed by trained dementia partners. METHODS: The trained dementia partners performed cognitive training program with the workbook developed by Incheon Metropolitan Dementia Center to 36 participants with mild cognitive impairment or dementia at their home. The cognitive training program consisted of 60-minute sessions held twice weekly for 10 weeks. We evaluated their cognitive performances at baseline and after intervention. Pre- and post-intervention measures included Korean version of Mini-Mental Status Examination for Dementia Screening (MMSE-DS), Global Deterioration Scale, Korea Activities of Daily Living Scale, Korea Instrumental Activities of Daily Living Scale, Korean Version of Short Form Geriatric Depression Scale (SGDS-K) and Korean Quality of Life-Alzheimer's Disease (KQoL-AD). RESULTS: Participants showed significant improvements compared with their baseline in MMSE-DS (p=0.002), SGDS-K (p=0.001) and KQoL-AD (p<0.001). There were no significant differences of improvement between high cognitive function group (MMSE ≤20, n=16) and low cognitive function group (MMSE ≤20, n=20). CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that the cognitive training program with cognitive health promotion workbook can improve cognitive function, quality of life and depression for community-dwelling elderlies with mild cognitive impairment and dementia and it would be efficient that trained dementia partners perform the cognitive training program regularly at their home.