The Effect of Brain Game on Cognitive Function in Stroke Patients

Abstract

The decline in cognitive function has been a disorder frequently experienced by stroke patients. The present studyaimed to determine the effect of android-based brain games on cognitive function in stroke patients. Brain games inthis study are designed using an exploratory approach to various cognitive function domains that are damaged. Thequasi experiment using two groups pretest and posttest design involved 15 individuals for each group recruited froma hospital in West Java through purposive sampling with a sample calculation formula using a paired numericalanalytical research formula. The intervention group received an android-based brain games three times a week forone month, the control group received placebo intervention (mentioning colors of different words) three times aweek for one month. The FACT-Cog Version 3 questionnaire utilized as the measuring instrument. Measurementswere taken every week after the intervention for one month. The results indicated that there was a signifcant changein cognitive function scores before and after the intervention in the intervention group (p = 0.000). Meanwhile,in the control group there is no signifcant change (p = 0.164). Moreover, the results of cognitive function scoreanalysis after intervention between the intervention and control group exhibit a signifcant difference (p = 0.000).The brain game intervention has a signifcant effect on cognitive function after the third treatment in the frst week(p <0.05). Also, the results exhibit the potential effect of brain games on the cognitive function level of strokepatients. Some of the things that make the intervention in this study effective in improving cognitive functionare that the respondents included in this study are only those who have a score greater than or equal to 46, whichmay be different when applied to patients with lower scores. In addition, the intervention was carried out onrespondents who had experienced a stroke for the frst time and may be different if applied to people who have hadseveral strokes. Therefore, it is important to expand the criteria for respondents in further research. Furthermore,this can be used as an option of the nursing intervention to manage cognitive problems among stroke patients.