THE EFFECT OF COGNITIVE TRAINING PROGRAM ON COGNITIVE FUNCTION IN MILD COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT OLDER PEOPLE IN GOVERMENTAL WELFARE HOME FOR THE AGED

Abstract

The quasi-experimental research with the two group pretest-posttest design aimed to study the effects of the Cognitive training program on cognitive function in older persons with mild cognitive impairment in govermental welfare home for the aged. The participants consisted of both male and female older persons resided in welfare home in Nakhon Pathom province and Lopburi province. The samples consisted of 40 older persons were assigned into the control and experiment groups with 20 persons in each group which were matched pair similarity in term of gender, age, education level, and health condition. The experimental group underwent a Cognitive training program and the control group received conventional nursing care. The Cognitive training program was performed once a week for 8 weeks. The research instruments included; Mini-Mental State Examination Thai version 2002 (MMSE-Thai 2002), Thai Geriatric Depression Scale (TGDS) and Barthel Index Activites of Daily Living (ADL). The Kuder Richardson Reliability was used for testing the reliability. The reliability of the MMSE-Thai 2002, TGDS, and the Barthel ADL by Cronbach's alpha coefficient were .97, .92, and .95, respectively. Data were analyzed using percentage, mean, standard deviation and t-test.

The research finding were as follows : 1) the cognitive function among older persons with mild cognitive impairment in the experimental group after receiving the Cognitive training program was significantly higher than before receiving the program at the level of .05 (Mean=26.90, S.D.=1.80 and Mean=23.80, S.D.=1.28, respectively, t=-9.34, p=.000), and 2) the cognitive function among older persons with mild cognitive impairment in the experimental group after receiving the cognitive training program was significantly higher than those who received conventional nursing at the level of .05 (Mean=26.90, S.D.=1.80 and Mean=23.05, S.D.=1.43, respectively, t=7.477, p =.000)