Cognitive Stimulation for Portuguese Older Adults With Cognitive Impairment

Abstract

Although some studies point to cognitive stimulation as a beneficial therapy for older adults with cognitive impairments, this area of research and practice is still lacking dissemination and is underrepresented in many countries. Moreover, the comparative effects of different intervention durations remain to be established and, besides cognitive effects, pragmatic parameters, such as cost-effectiveness and experiential relevance to participants, are seldom explored. In this work, we present a randomized controlled wait-list trial evaluating 2 different intervention durations (standard = 17 vs brief = 11 sessions) of a cognitive stimulation program developed for older adults with cognitive impairments with or without dementia. 20 participants were randomly assigned to the standard duration intervention program (17 sessions, 1.5 months) or to a wait-list group. At postintervention of the standard intervention group, the wait-list group crossed over to receive the brief intervention program (11 sessions, 1 month). Changes in neuropsychological, functionality, quality of life, and caregiver outcomes were evaluated. Experience during intervention and costs and feasibility were also evaluated. The current cognitive stimulation programs (ie, standard and brief) showed high values of experiential relevance for both intervention durations. High adherence, completion rates, and reasonable costs were found for both formats. Further studies are needed to definitively establish the potential efficacy, optimal duration, cost-effectiveness, and experiential relevance for participants of cognitive intervention approaches.

Effectiveness of cognitive stimulation for dementia: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

“…The distribution of effect sizes is illustrated in Figure 4. Effect size estimates from single studies ranged from g = −1.07 (Alves et al, 2014) to g = .57 (D’Onofrio et al, 2015). These two studies were also the only ones contributing substantial evidence, albeit favoring opposite hypotheses.…”

“…We used pooled SD s at pretest where available as they provide least biased effect size estimates (Morris, 2008). In three studies, the pretest SD s reported and used for computing the effect size were for a different subsample (Alves et al, 2014; Chapman et al, 2004; Onder et al, 2005). In two studies, pretest SD s were not available and posttest SD s were used instead (Baglio et al, 2015; Kolanowski et al, 2016).…”

A Conceptual View of Cognitive Intervention in Older Adults With and Without Cognitive Decline—A Systemic Review

“…These positive results can be explained by the fact that Cognitive Stimulation has excellent adherence and completion rates, reasonable costs and high experiential relevance to participants, as confirmed by Alves et al (2014) in a study involving older adults with cognitive impairment. However, Cognitive Stimulation components are controversial among authors.…”

Cognitive stimulation and activities of daily living for individuals with mild-to-moderate dementia: A scoping review

“…Yamagami et al (2012) delivered a total of 24 1-hour sessions, twice weekly for 12 weeks with institutionalised participants ( N = 54). The more recent study of Alves et al (2014) reported a similar structure to CS, however incorporated activities around object identification and categorisation, memory exercises and sequencing and planning of tasks. 1-hour sessions were conducted at a greater frequency than the previous two studies, at three times per week.…”