| Summary: | 碩士 === 中臺科技大學 === 護理系碩士班 === 103 === Effects of Reading Aloud and Arithmetic Calculation on Cognitive Functions of the Elderly with Dementia
Abstract
According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the number of people suffering from dementia in Taiwan has increased nearly 2.58 times in the past decade, with the number of sufferers soaring from 14 706 in 2004 to 37 919 in 2014. Older people already account for 87.77% of these totals, and the number of elderly dementia sufferers in Taiwan is also quickly growing. In addition, according to The World Alzheimer Report of 2015, it is estimated that there are over 9.9 million new cases of dementia each year worldwide, implying one new case every 3.2 seconds. These statistics indicate that the problem of elderly dementia is too serious to ignore.
The purpose of the study is to investigate the effects of reading aloud and arithmetic calculation on the cognitive functions in the aged with dementia. The design of the present study is quasi-experimental with intervention. Purposive sampling was employed to recruit 23 subjects aged 65 and over with the ability to read aloud and do arithmetic calculation. 10 of the 23 subjects were assigned to the experimental group, while the rest were assigned to the control group. Subjects in the experimental group received training in reading aloud and arithmetic calculation 2-to-5 days a week for 5 weeks with each training session lasting about 20 minutes. A post-test was administered a week after the training. The measuring instruments included both the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Activities of Daily Living (ADL) test.
The results of the study indicate that there are significant differences between the pre-and post-tests in both cognitive functions (Mann-Whitney U-test), MMSA (Z=-2.873，p=0.003), and orientation indexes (Z=-2.272，p=0.026). Thus, interventional training had a significant effect on elderly dementia sufferers’ cognitive functions. As for ADL, despite no significant differences between the pre- and post-tests, significance is still expected once the length of time for training is extended.
Conclusion: The study shows significant improvement on the cognitive functions in those subjects undergoing training. The findings of the present study can thus provide health workers in clinics and medical institutions with a reference regarding the care of elderly dementia sufferers. It is suggested that the training techniques employed in the study be incorporated into elderly dementia patients’ daily lives by either patients themselves or health workers.
Keywords: elderly, dementia, reading aloud, arithmetic calculation
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