The Effects of the Group Reminiscence on Cognitive Status of Mild Cognitive Impaired Elders

The growth of the elderly society and contagion of various cognitive impairments and disorders among this age group، attending accessible، inexpensive and low-side cure and care methods has become a necessary issue. The purpose of the present study was to investigate group reminiscence effects on cognitive abilities of mild cognitive impaired elders. This research was in the semi-experimental category aimed to determine the influences of group reminiscence on cognitive abilities of mild cognitively impaired elderly at the “Jahandidegan-e-Shiraz” institute. Thus، Seventy two 60-84 years old people of this institute (48 females and 24 males) were purposefully chosen، as the subjects، and were divided into three teams of group reminiscence، group intervention and without intervention، considering the same proportion between the three teams. Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) was implemented on the subjects، before and after the interventions. The reminiscence intervention was in a manner that the group reminiscence team attended 8 group reminiscence sessions (one weekly session with the spans of 60 to 90 min). Meetings of the first evidence team (group talks) were similar to the group reminiscence one، except for those meetings which were held without any reminiscence، and its subjects were talking about usual and daily issues، as a group. The third team (the second evidence group) didn’t receive any intervention، during the research. Cognitive abilities increased significantly، among the two teams of group reminiscence and group intervention. Also، the increase in group reminiscence team was significantly further than those of two other groups، and the increment of group intervention team was significantly more than that of the group without intervention (P<0. 05). According to results of this study، it should be considered that the elderly، who have mild cognitive impairments، could improve their cognitive abilities by group reminiscence. It seems، even group talking could increase cognitive abilities of these elders. Though، it is appropriate to execute the group talking in a group reminiscence manner. However، further researches are required، to achieve more accurate conclusions.