Abstract:
The present study was experimental research which aimed at investigating the effects of a brain training program on cognitive functions of cognitive impaired elderly persons.
The subjects were cognitive impaired elderly persons aged 65 years old and older who lived at Ban Bang Khae Social Welfare Development Center for Older Persons, Bangkok. They were recruited with the Clinical Dementia Rating Scale with the score equal to 0.5 and the Mini-Mental State Examination with the scores ranging from 20 to 26 points. Random assignment was used to assign the subjects into the experimental group and the control group, with 18 subjects in each group. The instruments used in data collection included the Montreal Cognitive Assessment-Thai Version and the brain training program for elderly persons with cognitive impairment developed by the researcher based on the concept of Spector. There were 14 sessions in the program, each lasting 60 minutes, for a total of two weeks. The experiment was divided into three phrases-before the experiment, after the experiment, and during the follow-up period. Data were analyzed using the repeated measures analysis of variance: one between-subjects variable and one within- subjects variable When differences were detected, the Bonferroni procedure was employed.
The findings revealed that cognitive impaired elderly persons in the experimental group had the mean scores of cognitive functions after the experiment and during the follow-up period higher than that obtained before the experiment with statistical significance at .05 level. Also, after the experiment and during the follow-up period, the mean scores of the experimental subjects were higher than those of the control subjects with statistical significance at .05 level. Based on the study findings, it could be concluded that the brain training program could be implemented to promote cognitive functions of cognitive impaired elderly persons.