Longitudinal impact and effects of booster sessions in a cognitive training program for healthy older adults.

This paper reports the results from a 3-year follow-up study to measure the long-term efficacy of a cognitive training for healthy older adults and investigates the effects of booster sessions using an entropy-based metric. DESIGN: semi-randomized quasi-experimental controlled design. PARTICIPANTS: 50 older adults, (M = 73.3, SD = 7.77) assigned into experimental (N = 25; Mean age = 73.9; SD = 8.62) and control groups (N = 25; mean age = 72.9; SD = 6.97). INSTRUMENTS: six subtests of WAIS and two episodic memory tasks. PROCEDURES: the participants were assessed on four occasions: after the end of the original intervention, pre-booster sessions (three years after the original intervention), immediately after the booster sessions and three months after the booster sessions. RESULTS: the repeated measures ANOVA showed that two of the cognitive gains reported in the original intervention were also identified in the follow-up: Coding (F(1, 44) = 11.79, MSE = 0.77, p = .001, eta squared = 0.084) and Picture Completion (F(1, 47) = 10.01, MSE = 0.73, p = .003, eta squared = 0.060). After the booster sessions, all variables presented a significant interaction between group and time favorable to the experimental group (moderate to high effect sizes). To compare the level of cohesion of the cognitive variables between the groups, an entropy-based metric was used. The experimental group presented a lower level of cohesion on three of the four measurement occasions, suggesting a differential impact of the intervention with immediate and short-term effects, but without long-term effects.

Investigando evidências de validade de conteúdo e estrutural em tarefas de um treino cognitivo para idosos / Investigating evidence of content and structural validity in cognitive training tasks for the elderly / Investigando evidencias de validez de contenido y estructural en tareas de un entrenamiento cognitivo para ancianos

O presente artigo objetiva reportar os resultados de dois estudos de validade conduzidos em um treino cognitivo para idosos. O modelo teórico adotado para a intervenção previu a estimulação de cinco habilidades cognitivas. Um estudo de validade de conteúdo foi conduzido por meio de uma análise de juízes com um grupo de 16 especialistas na área. Os resultados apontaram para uma baixa concordância entre os avaliadores (índice Fleiss Kappa=0,11; -0,02

The present article reports the results of two validity studies conducted in a cognitive training session for the elderly. The theoretical model adopted for the intervention predicted the stimulation of five cognitive abilities. A content validity study was conducted through a panel of judges including 16 experts in the field. The results pointed to a low agreement between the evaluators (Fleiss Kappa index=0.11; -0.02

Este artículo tuvo como objetivo informar los resultados de dos estudios de validez realizados en un entrenamiento cognitivo para ancianos. El modelo teórico adoptado para la intervención previó la estimulación de cinco habilidades cognitivas. Se realizó un estudio de validez de contenido que fue conducido por medio de un análisis de jueces con un grupo de 16 especialistas en el área. Los resultados mostraron baja concordancia entre los evaluadores (índice FleissKappa=0,11; -0,02