BENEFICIOS DE LA INTERVENCIÓN PSICOMOTRIZ EN ADULTOS MAYORES CON DETERIORO COGNITIVO LEVE Y MODERADO

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify the benefits associated with the psychomotor intervention from a therapeutic approach, with the elderly who suffer from low and moderate cognitive deterioration, that attending a day-care centre for older adults. It is a quasi-experimental study with pre and post intervention measurement through a single group study for five months. An individual, pre-intervention evaluation was done using a series of tests and questionnaires to 9 people with cognitive deterioration who attend to that center. The instruments were: Pre-Intervention Questionnaire, Minimental State Examination, SF36 Questionnaire, Tinetti’s Balance and Motion Scale, Clock Test, a selection of subtests of Da Fonseca’s Psychomotor Battery (Laterality, Notion of Body, Global and Fine Praxis). An observation sheet of psychomotor parameters for adults was also used. Based on this, a 24-session psychomotor intervention project was designed and applied. Afterwards, the population was reevaluated, applying the same battery of tests and a satisfaction questionnaire, suppressing the pre-intervention questionnaire. The comparison of both evaluations shows improvements in most patients in: the tonic-postural organization and the amplitude of movement, attention and memory capacities, and the possibility revaluation of the body as a place for wellbeing sensations. In conclusion the psychomotor intervention can have a positive effect on the slowing of the psychomotor retrogenesis process, improving and/or maintaining the functional capacities of this population in a motor, cognitive and social level, promoting an adaptive style of functioning and a positive assessment of body.