Effects of a cognitive stimulation program on institutionalized older people

Abstract

Background: The evidence suggests that cognitive stimulation in the elderly has positive results in cognition and depressive symptomatology. Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of a cognitive stimulation program in cognition and depressive symptomatology in institutionalized older people. Methodology: Experimental study in a sample of 100 elderly individuals. The Portuguese versions of the Mini-Mental State Examination and the Geriatric Depression Scale-15 were applied to each one of the groups in the pre-test and post-test. The experimental group was submitted to 14 sessions of cognitive stimulation. Results: The cognitive stimulation program improved cognition (p < 0.01), with no occurrence of statistically significant differences in the depressive symptomatology when comparing both groups (p > 0.05). From a clinical point of view, there was a reduction in depressive symptomatology (p < 0.05) in the experimental group, while the same is not true in the control group (p > 0.05). Conclusion: The cognitive stimulation program significantly improved cognition, explaining 9.8% of identified variability. The results are encouraging, demonstrating that the program benefits institutionalized older people, thus contributing to the maintenance of their mental health.