[Effectiveness of a psychotherapeutic intervention group program in the improvement of caregiver well-being in Alzheimer's disease patients' family caregivers: the CuiDem study]

INTRODUCTION

Caregivers of patients with Alzheimer's Disease experience physical and emotional burnout that can be treated with non-pharmacological interventions.

AIM

Assess the efficacy of a group cognitive behavioural psychotherapeutic intervention, for improving well-being perception in caregivers, compared to a support group. Also, we assessed its efficacy after a follow-up period of 1-year post-intervention.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS

A multicentre, open, quasi experimental study with control group was conducted. 221 caregivers of patients with Alzheimer's Disease, with mild to moderate-severe dementia, were non-randomly assigned to either IG-intervention group: psychotherapeutic program without active follow-up period (n = 80); IGF-intervention group: psychotherapeutic program with active follow-up period (n = 78); or CG-control group: support program with active follow-up period (n = 63). The psychotherapeutic intervention (IG and IGF) is a structured cognitive behavioural group program, of one weekly session over four months. The CG had the same duration. Caregiver's burden, mood disorders, resilience, perceived functional social support and quality of life were measured at baseline, post-intervention and after 1-year follow-up.

RESULTS

At post-intervention, statistically significant improvements were observed in the IG and IGF compared to CG in caregiver burden (p = 0,0216). After one year follow-up, significant improvements were found in IGF compared to IG in emotional state (p = 0,0271), resilience (p = 0,0018), perceived social support (p = 0,014); quality of life (p = 0,0001) and mental health (p = 0,0002); and in CG versus GI in emotional state and social support (p < 0,05).

CONCLUSIONS

These results support the efficacy of this psychotherapeutic intervention for improving well-being (burden), and the supportive follow-up period for increasing its efficacy.

Assessment of aphasia: dialectal and cultural considerations in neurology

INTRODUCTION

In the context of neurological disorders, language assessment is traditionally based on the use of the standard language of the community in which the assessment is performed. Dialectal variables constitute a 'forgotten' topic. This review aims to provide resources and working guidelines to overcome this limitation.

DEVELOPMENT

The study was conducted as follows: 1) review of basic concepts of dialectology (language, dialect, isogloss line, idiolect, register, 'standard variant', bilingualism); 2) characterisation of Spanish and Catalan dialectologies and search for online resources for the development of neurological assessment tools; 3) ad hoc search on the PubMed database (keywords 'dialect', 'aphasia' and 'multilingual').

CONCLUSIONS

We provide online resources to promote adequate development of assessment tools in Spanish and Catalan, accounting for Dialectal considerations. We propose a set of working guidelines for the introduction of Dialectal variables in language tests to ensure their ultimate objective: to evaluate the real use of the language, and not cultural knowledge of the standard language.

Spanish translation and adaptation of the repeatable battery for the assessment of neuropsychological status (RBANS) Form A in a pilot sample

INTRODUCTION

RBANS is a short neuropsychological battery which has shown to be sensitive in detecting cognitive impairment in degenerative and non-degenerative diseases. It has been translated and adapted to different languages and is widely used in other countries, but no Spanish version has been published. The objective was to make a valid translation of the RBANS to Spanish, and obtain a version adapted to the Spanish population.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

The study included 73 subjects: 25 males with a mean age of 54 years and 9.72 years of education, and 48 females with a mean age of 53 years and 10.29 years of education. The battery was translated using the translation-back-translation method (with slight differences), followed by a descriptive pilot study in a sample of the normal population.

RESULTS

An overall reliability coefficient with a Cronbach alpha of 0.73 was obtained in the translation and adaptation of the RBANS, Form A (1998). Statistically significant positive correlations between the indices were obtained.

CONCLUSIONS

The version translated and adapted to Spanish performs similarly to the original version.

[Preliminary normative data for the second edition of the Boston Naming Test for young Spanish adults]

INTRODUCTION

The Boston Naming Test (BNT) is one of the most widely used tests in neuropsychological evaluation of language disorders, specifically when testing for anomia. The aim of this study is to establish preliminary normative data for the second edition of the BNT for young spanish adults (age range between 20 and 49 years).

METHODS

A total of 160 subjects (60 % female and 40 % male) were administered the BNT. Mean age was 33.89 years (SD: 9.45) and average number of years of education was 13.98 (SD: 3.97). The version used in the present study is the second edition of the BNT (Kaplan et al., 2001) which includes two new components: multiple choice and error typology.

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS

Descriptive statistics of the test's variables. Lineal regression to establish the possible degree of influence of the variables age and education on test performance.

RESULTS

The sample's mean score was 51.84. Education significantly influences the final score (B: 0.476; p= 0.001). Multiple choice was effective in 89 % of cases.

DISCUSSION

The present results will allow proper clinical interpretation of results in the BNT 2001 version in young Spanish adults.

[Abstract abilities: amplified norms for the Barcelona Test]

INTRODUCTION

By abstract abilities is understood the ability of comprehend relations identifying the essential components and taking out from them a common feature. Its evaluation constitutes a great challenge for neuropsychology. Several studies have showed the influence of age and formal education in the performance of tests assessing these abilities.

AIM

To analyse the WAIS-style abstract abilities included in the abbreviated version of the Barcelona Test determining the influence of and formal education and obtaining more normative data for a Spanish population.

METHOD

A sample of 264 subjects was randomly selected. The subtests of the Barcelona Test were administered in a single session to every subject. We selected the scores obtained in Arithmetic Problems (raw and timed), Similarities, Digit Symbol and Block Design (raw and timed).

RESULTS

The analysis of the variance showed statistically significant results of the selected items according to age and formal education. The formal education, as the lineal regression showed, resulted significant for all the items, being the Arithmetic Problems the only subtests not influenced significantly by the formal education.

CONCLUSION

The results obtained in this study are in general concordant to the ones of the reviewed bibliography.