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The efficacy of a volunteer-administered cognitive stimulation program in long-term care homes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2016

Lorraine van Zon ,
John R. Kirby  and
Nicole Anderson
Lorraine van Zon*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Education, Queen's University, Duncan McArthur Hall, Kingston, Ontario K7M 5R7, Canada
John R. Kirby
Affiliation:
Faculty of Education, Queen's University, Duncan McArthur Hall, Kingston, Ontario K7M 5R7, Canada
Nicole Anderson
Affiliation:
Rotman Research Institute, University of Toronto & Baycrest, Baycrest Hospital 3560 Bathurst Street Toronto, Ontario M6A 2E1, Canada
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: Lorraine van Zon, Program Coordinator, Faculty of Education, Queen's University, Duncan McArthur Hall, Kingston, Ontario K7M 5R7, Canada. Phone: 416-993-4800. Email: LorraineL22@sympatico.ca.
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Abstract

Background:

Cognitive impairment (CI) that arises in some older adults limits independence and decreases quality of life. Cognitive stimulation programs delivered by professional therapists have been shown to help maintain cognitive abilities, but the costs of such programming are prohibitive. The present study explored the feasibility and efficacy of using long-term care homes' volunteers to administer a cognitive stimulation program to residents.

Methods:

Thirty-six resident participants and 16 volunteers were alternately assigned to one of two parallel groups: a control group (CG) or stimulation group (SG). For eight weeks, three times each week, CG participants met for standard “friendly visits” (casual conversation between a resident and volunteer) and SG participants met to work through a variety of exercises to stimulate residents’ reasoning, attention, and memory abilities. Resident participants were pre- and post-tested using the Weschler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence–Second Edition, Test of Memory, and Learning-Senior Edition, a modified Letter Sorting test (LS), Clock Drawing Test (CDT), and the Action Word Verbal Fluency Test.

Results:

Two-way analyses of covariance (ANCOVA) controlling for dementia diagnosis indicated statistically greater improvements in the stimulation participants than in the control participants in Immediate Verbal Memory, p = 0.011; Non-Verbal Memory, p = 0.012; Learning, p = 0.016; and Verbal Fluency, p = 0.024.

Conclusions:

The feasibility and efficiency of a volunteer-administered cognitive stimulation program was demonstrated. Longitudinal studies with larger sample sizes are recommended in order to continue investigating the breadth and depth volunteer roles in the maintenance of the cognitive abilities of older adults.

Keywords

cognitive stimulationcognitive impairmentlong-term care homesvolunteers
Type
Research Article
Information
International Psychogeriatrics , Volume 28 , Issue 6 , June 2016 , pp. 995 - 1004
Copyright
Copyright © International Psychogeriatric Association 2016 

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