The Development of Health Promotion Model for Dementia Prevention among the Elderly through Participation of Partnership Networks: A Case Study of Selected Community, Thonburi

Abstract

            This study was a Participatory Action Research (PAR) which involved all participants in every stage of the research starting from planning, conducting, observing to reflecting on the results. The aims of the research were to 1) analyze the situation of dementia among the elderly, 2) develop a health promotion model using participation of partnership networks to prevent dementia in the elderly, and 3) assess the effectiveness of the model in terms of the subjects’ ability to retain memory and perform daily activities. The samples were 133 older adults in the selected community. In the actual experiment, the subjects were 50 older adults, whose age ranges from 60 - 80 years old. These elderly had no depression and no dementia as screened by Mini-Mental State examination and Thai Geriatric Depression Scale. They were divided into 2 groups of 25: a treatment group and a control group. The instrument used for the experiment was the health promotion program for dementia prevention among the elderly with a content validity index of 1. The research tools used for data collection were the Mini-Mental State Examination, and the Barthel Activities of Daily Living: ADL. The data were then analyzed using descriptive statistics, T-Test and content analysis. The results showed that 1) 100% of the participants (65 older adults) who received the Mini-Mental State Examination were at a normal level. 2) The health promotion model for dementia prevention among the elderly was organized both individually and in groups. For the individual activities, the scheduled home visits were conducted once a week for 6 weeks in a row. Group activities were arranged 2 times to enhance capability of public health volunteers and to encourage the elderly to participate and interact with others. 3) After receiving the treatment, the scores of the experimental group were significantly higher than the control group in terms of ability to remember and ability to perform daily routine activities. The P-Value was at .05. The elderly rated the 2-times group activities at the highest satisfaction scale. Thus, this model can be used to increase memory ability among elderly in primary care and in the community.