INTERVENTIONS FOR TRAINING EQUIVALENCE CLASSES IN OLDER ADULTS WITH COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT

• Grant number: 23/01539-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: September 01, 2023
• End date: August 31, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Psychology - Experimental Psychology
• Principal Investigator: Andréia Schmidt
• Grantee: Mateus Stoppa Baldessin
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto (FFCLRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Population aging is a demographic process that is increasing the relative proportion of older adults worldwide. One of the consequences of this aging is the increased incidence of dementia, a potentially disabling condition that can contribute to the dependence of older adults and, consequently, worsen their quality of life. Memory impairment is a characteristic of the disorder, which affects, among other things, the recognition and learning of relationships between people (faces) and their respective names, difficulties for which non-pharmacological interventions are indicated. For that matter, the present study aims to compare three different types of interventions that use the Matching to Sample (MTS) and Spaced Retrieval (SR) procedures to teach or strengthen name-face-profession relations regarding employees of long-stay institutions for the elderly (LSIE) where older adults with cognitive impairment live. Participants will be 12 adults over 60 years old, living in a LSIE with signs of neurocognitive disorder, measured in a screening test for dementia (Mini Mental State), and with no signs of depression (Geriatric Depression Scale). The three teaching conditions in which the participants will be allocated are: (1) MTS, in which a computerized teaching procedure will be used with matching to sample tasks; (2) SR, a teaching procedure by spaced retrieval of photo-name and photo-profession relations, using printed cards; and (3) SR + MTS, in which participants will go through the two processes described above (first SR, then MTS). Before and after the interventions, participants will be tested regarding their knowledge of the relations taught, and after the interventions, tests will be conducted to verify the eventual learning of relations not directly taught, but derived from the teaching carried out. In the three interventions, participants will learn two classes of stimuli, using informations from LSIE employees that participants cannot recognize.