COMPUTER-BASED COGNITIVE TRAINING IN MILD COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT PATIENTS: PRELIMINARY RESULT

Abstract

Cognitive therapy is the one of the non-pharmacological therapy of the dementia, is consisted of the cognitive stimulation, cognitive training and cognitive rehabilitation. Computer based cognitive training (CBT) is one of the efficient methods of cognitive training which improve cognitive functions among cognitively impaired elderly individuals. The objective of this study is to report the preliminary result of customer-designed training programs using tablet computer on training the mild cognitive impaired patients. Patients with diagnoses of amnestic mild cognitive impairment (AMCI) were included. We assessed patient information, and Mini-Mental Status Examination (MMSE). The Brain Health (Willis Memorial Hospital, Busan, South Korea) is used as the customer-designed training programs based on the tablet computer, which is training multi-domain and/or single cognition. Eligible AMCI patients were randomly assigned to either the Personal training (PT) or the Group training (GT). Participants attended a 12-week program, where they were required to spend at least 1 hour each course and 2 times per week to training the Brain Health. The efficacy was measured by the change of MMSE scale, and the satisfaction level was detected using a three-item Likert-type scale: satisfactory; ordinary; unsatisfactory. Five and six patients completed total 25 and 14 times of the scheduled program. The mean MMSE scores were increased after training in both PT and GT groups. The satisfaction scale was different in each group. All patients of the PT group reported ordinary or satisfactory, otherwise there were opinions of unsatisfactory about the CBT program in the GT group. The GT group's dissatisfaction reason was the feeling of pressure about disclosure of one's mistake or error during the program. The improvements of the MMSE score in both groups mean this customer-designed training programs based on the tablet computer might working to enhancement of memory in AMCI patients. However, the satisfaction was better in the PT group than in the GT group. The reason of the dissatisfaction, the feeling of pressure about disclosure of one's error, should be considered when the CBT programming in South Korea or Asian population.