Physical leisure activities and their role in preventing dementia: a systematic review

Efficacy of non-computerized cognitive rehabilitation in Parkinson's disease: A one year follow up study

In this study, we explored the effect of non-computerized cognitive rehabilitation in patients with Parkinson's disease in comparison with an intervention with elements of music therapy after the completion of a three-month program and one year after the end of the intervention. After the initial neuropsychological examination, the respondents were divided into two intervention groups. The experimental group (n = 26) underwent a twelve-week program of cognitive rehabilitation at a frequency of 60 minutes once a week. The control group (n = 27) underwent an intervention program with elements of music therapy at the same frequency. Respondents who underwent the cognitive rehabilitation program improved in the delayed recall from visual memory in the follow-up examination after the end of the cognitive intervention. One year after the end, the effect of cognitive rehabilitation persisted in delayed recall from visual memory and in executive mental flexibility. Cognitive rehabilitation is an effective approach to compensate for cognitive deficits in P D, but other approaches to cognitive stimulation may be equally effective.

Clinical reasoning of occupational therapists in selecting activities together with older adults with dementia to postpone further development of cognitive decline

BACKGROUND

Research suggests that participation in activities has the potential to prevent or delay the development of later-life cognitive decline and dementia. This area is unexplored within occupational therapy.

AIM

To explore and describe the clinical reasoning of occupational therapists in selecting activities together with older adults with dementia to participate in, with the goal to postpone further development of cognitive decline in a sample from the German part of Switzerland.

METHODS

A constructivist grounded theory approach was used. Six in-depth, semi-structured interviews with occupational therapists working in geriatric units in the German part of Switzerland were conducted.

RESULTS

Three main categories were identified: (i) from the discovery of 'who the older adult is' to the discovery of 'meaningful activities', (ii) reflecting on occupational therapists' individuality, and (iii) matching the activity to older adults' skills. A core category was developed: Pursuing active participation through meaningful and chosen activities.

CONCLUSIONS

The study suggests that to pursue enabling active participation in activities among older adults with dementia, and promoting the quality of participation, occupational therapists must consider the identified elements that are important in selecting the activities which might be used to postpone cognitive decline in each individual.

Experiences of Active Everyday Life Among Persons with Prodromal Alzheimer’s Disease: A Qualitative Study

Introduction

Identifying strategies to prevent or delay cognitive decline among the rising numbers of elderly is acknowledged as a global public health priority. Research suggests that an active lifestyle in terms of participation in activities has the potential to reduce the risk of later-life cognitive decline. The concept of “active everyday life”, however, needs to be further explored.

Aim

The study aimed to explore and describe the active everyday lives of persons with prodromal Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in terms of quality of participation in activities and perceived restrictions.

Methods

This qualitative study was part of a larger project, the MIND-AD_MINI trial. Nine in-depth interviews were conducted with seven participants (2 males, 5 females; mean age of 72.3) at baseline before the intervention. The data were collected from January to October 2018 and analyzed using the grounded theory approach.

Results

Four categories emerged from the analysis: (i) active body and mind; (ii) doing desired meaningful activities to feel engaged, contented, and satisfied; (iii) doing in the context of being connected to others; (iv) ability in making decisions and taking actions. From these categories, which presented the key elements of an active everyday life, a core category was identified: Living a complete life in flow.

Conclusion

The findings suggest key elements of participation quality that contribute to an active life. The identified elements are important to be considered in rehabilitation to provide opportunities and possibilities for participation to enable and improve the quality of participation among persons with cognitive impairments.

Ethnoracial disparities in cognition are associated with multiple socioeconomic status-stress pathways

Systemic racism can have broad impacts on health in ethnoracial minorities. One way is by suppressing socioeconomic status (SES) levels through barriers to achieve higher income, wealth, and educational attainment. Additionally, the weathering hypothesis proposes that the various stressful adversities faced by ethnoracial minorities lead to greater wear and tear on the body, known as allostatic load. In the present study, we extend these ideas to cognitive health in a tri-ethnic sample of young adults-when cognition and brain health is arguably at their peak. Specifically, we tested competing mediation models that might shed light on how two key factors caused by systemic racism-SES and perceived stress-intersect to explain ethnoracial disparities in cognition. We found evidence for partial mediation via a pathway from SES to stress on episodic memory, working memory capacity, and executive function in Black Americans relative to non-Hispanic White Americans. Additionally, we found that stress partially mediated the ethnoracial disparities in working memory updating for lower SES Black and Hispanic Americans relative to non-Hispanic White Americans, showing that higher SES can sometimes reduce the negative effects stress has on these disparities in some cognitive domains. Overall, these findings suggest that multiple pathways exist in which lower SES creates a stressful environment to impact ethnoracial disparities cognition. These pathways differ depending on the specific ethnoracial category and cognitive domain. The present results may offer insight into strategies to help mitigate the late-life risk for neurocognitive disorders in ethnoracial minorities.

Cognitive Benefits of Activity Engagement among 12,093 Adults Aged over 65 Years

Objective: The present study includes two aims: (1) to understand patterns of activity engagement among older Chinese adults; (2) to further investigate associations between activity engagement and cognitive abilities in this population. Methods: Latent class analysis was applied to answer the aforementioned research questions across different age ranges while controlling for confounding variables (age, health, socioeconomic status (SES), and living alone). Specifically, five latent classes (non-active, working-active, comprehensive-active, physical-active, and less-active) were identified. Furthermore, associations between the classes of activity engagement and cognition were examined separately in three age groups: less than 80 years (young-old group), 80–99.5 years (old-old group) and more than 100 years (oldest-old group) of age. Results: Compared with Non-active older individuals, the other classes with a higher probability of engagement in various activities generally showed higher cognitive abilities (including general cognition, orientation, calculation, recall, and language), but not all patterns of active engagement in daily life were positively associated with better cognitive status across different age ranges. In particular, differences in the individuals’ cognitive abilities across the four active latent classes were especially obvious in the old-old group as follows: the Comprehensive-active class had higher general cognitive and recall abilities than the other three active classes and higher calculation and language abilities than the Working-active class. In addition, significant sex differences were observed in activity patterns, cognition, and their associations in the young-old and old-old groups. Culture-specific programs should be customized to subgroups of different ages and genders by providing different training or activity modules based on their related dimensions of cognitive decline.

Coffee, Cake & Culture: Evaluation of an art for health programme for older people in the community

Arts for health initiatives and networks are being developed in a number of countries and an international literature is emerging on the evidence of their benefits to people's health, wellbeing and quality of life. Engagement in cultural and creative arts by older people can increase their morale and self-confidence and provides opportunities for social connection. Museums and galleries are increasingly required to justify their expenditure, reach and impact and some are working in partnership with local councils, hospitals, schools and communities to improve access to their collections. There is a body of literature emerging that describes such initiatives but empirical evidence of their benefits is less developed. This article reports an evaluation of an art for health initiative – Coffee, Cake & Culture organised and delivered by Whitworth Art Gallery and Manchester Museum in 2012 for older people living in a care home and a supported living facility. The study has identified the benefits and impacts of the arts for health programme and its feasibility for older people, with or without diagnosed memory loss – dementia, living in a care home or supported living facility and their care staff. The findings demonstrate there were benefits to the older people and their care staff in terms of wellbeing, social engagement, learning, social inclusion and creativity. These benefits were immediate and continued in the short term on their return home. The majority of older people and care staff had not previously been to the art gallery or museum and the programme encouraged creative arts and cultural appreciation which promoted social inclusion, wellbeing and quality of life. The programme is feasible and important lessons were identified for future planning. Further research involving partnerships of researchers, arts for health curators, artists, care staff, older people and their families is warranted.