The “COGS CLUB” : A psychosocial intervention for people with Alzhiemer’s disease

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundThe “Cogs Club” is a multi‐modal intervention based on the Cognitive Stimulation Therapy (CST, Spector A.).CST is cost‐effective for people with mild‐to‐moderate dementia and is recommended in the UK by NICE. CST, in our adaptative model, is related to other psycho‐social activities (OT, music, physical activity). Cogs Club changes a traditional session of about an hour into 4 hours of activities.Objectives: the aim of this study is to verify the efficacy of this muldimodal psychosocial interventionMethodthe project is promoted by the local Alzhemer’s associations situated in Modena (Italy) and conducted by 3 professionals (a psychologist, an OT and a fisioterapist) who provide scheduled interventions ad : cognitive stimulation therapy (CST), occupational therapy and physical activities with music. Partecipants who took part in the study (n° 26 people with mild‐ moderate Alzheimer’s dementia, M9: F17, mean age 78.23 ±5.11 years, education: 7.2 ± 3.86 years) were submitted at T0 (basal evaluation) and T1 (after 3 months) to an assessment composed by ACE‐R, GDS‐15, DAD, QoL‐AD and ZBI. People with sensorial deficit, motor or behaviour disorder was excluded.Resultat T1 all indicators (cognitive: MMSE 22,6 vs 23,4, p 0,096; ACE – R 63,54 vs 65,96 p 0,066; functional: DAD 0,68 vs 0,69, p 0,103; emotional‐affective : GDS 5,35 vs 4,12 p 0,039 and quality of life : QoL AD pz 31,5 vs 33,38, p 0.129; Qol AD cg: 29,04 vs 30,96, p 0,459) of the PWD have improved even if only the depression is of clinical relevance. Regarding the caregiver we found an improvement in their quality of life even with an increase in perceived care stress (Zarit 34,09 vs 36,65, p 0,098).Conclusionthe purpose of the project is also to create a context for the socialisation and a net of formal and informal connection to people with mild‐ moderate dementia who traditionally don’t ask to access health services. The main goal is to delay as much as possible the development of the disability but further studies are necessary to encourage this preliminary results.