Compiling a cognitive rehabilitation program and its effects on cognitive functions and life satisfaction in the Iranian elderly with mild Alzheimer's

The main aim of the present research was to compile a cognitive rehabilitation program and study its efficacy on cognitive functions and satisfaction of life in the erderly with mild Alzheimer’s.

The research method of this study was a Quasi-experimental method with pretest-posttest designs with control group with one month follow-up. Statistical population was all the elderly with mild Alzheimer's living in the elderly residential care centers in Shemiranat in Tehran provinc, in winter of 2018-2019 and spring and summer of 2019. The sample included 50 participants with mild Alzheime's by the physician's diagnosis and getting score between 20-25 in Mini-Mental State Examination(MMSE) meeting the other inclusion criteria of this study, was selected through purposive sampling and then the participants were assigned in experimental(25 patients) and control group(25 patients) by random assignment technique. The experimental group trained 45 minutes-1 hour twice a week for 20 sessions of cognitive rehabilitation intervention. Training of the control group was postponed for the another time. Data were collected by Wechsler Memory Scale Questionnaire(WMS-Q), Wisconsin Card Sorting Test(WCST), Cognitive Empowerment of the Elderly of Individual Changes Questionnaire(CEEIC-Q) and Life Satisfaction Index-Z(LSI-Z) in the elderly. The data were analyzed through repeated measures analysis of covariance.

The results showed that scores in(WMS-Q),(WCST),(CEEIC-Q) and(LSI-Z) had significant increase in the experimental group and fowllow-up showed These effects were maintained for one month.

it can be concluded that cognitive rehabilitation was useful for repairing cognitive impairments and improving life satisfaction in the elderly with Alzheime's and it is recommended to use this technique as a non-pharmacological treatment in these patients.