Effects of cognitive stimulation therapy on cognitive ability of demented older adults

Abstract

Dementia has affected to each older adult in a different way depending on the impact of the disease and the personality of older adult before becoming ill.This quasi-experimental study aimed to examine the effect of cognitive stimulation therapy program [CST] on cognitive ability of demented older adults. Simple random sampling technique was used to recruit 54 demented older adults in two nursing homes, Indonesia. They were equally divided into experimental and control group. The experimental group received a 3-time weekly CST program for 5 weeks while the control group received usual care from the nursing home. Demographic questionnaire and Indonesian version of the mini mental state examination were used to collect data. Independent t-tests were used to compare changes in cognitive ability among the two groups.

The results showed that after receiving CST program, the difference of mean score of cognitive ability in the experimental group was significantly higher than the difference of mean score of the control group (p < .001). Findings revealed that health care providers should implement this CST program to enhance cognitive ability of demented older adults. Future research should focus on various severities of demented older adults in order to improve their cognitive ability.

-