Treinamento cognitivo em idosas por meio do teleatendimento

Abstract

Aging occurs naturally in the lives of all human beings, and can cause physical and cognitive changes. Cognitive training brings many benefits and improves the quality of life of the elderly. However, there are still few studies on cognitive training through telepractice. This study aimed to develop cognitive training for the virtual environment and verify its applicability and effectiveness in elderly women. Two elderly women participated in this study, both 67 years old at the beginning of the treatment. As inclusion criteria, participants should: be between 60 and 75 years old; having Brazilian Portuguese as first language; be available to participate in cognitive training twice a week; never having done cognitive training; have wi-fi internet and computer/cell phone; were literate (at least first grade of elementary school) and; having participated in the Intervention Program through the Pilates Method. As exclusion criteria: showing signs of cognitive decline (identified through the Mini Mental State Examination - MMSE); present signs of moderate to severe depression (identified through the Geriatric Depression Scale - GDS-15); present significant hearing loss in a way that would impair comprehension; have uncorrected visual impairment. Cognitive training was developed based on the main complaints presented by the elderly women regarding attention and memory, based on data obtained through the application of the questionnaires: PTA-II Attention Questionnaire and Prospective and Retrospective Memory Questionnaire – PRMQ. The tasks developed for the training were judged by three doctoral psychologists and experts in the field of geriatric neuropsychology. Before starting the telepractice, the elderly women underwent initial neuropsychological assessments and after training, as well as 30 days without cognitive stimulation. For this purpose, the Brief Neuropsychological Assessment Instrument - NEUPSILIN, the Rey Auditory-Verbal Learning Test-RAVLT, the Rey Complex Figure and the Psychological Battery for Attention Assessment - BPA were applied. Data were analyzed descriptively. The training was carried out through the Google Meet platform, lasting 12 sessions of 50 minutes each. It was possible to verify positive effects on cognition, mainly in the domains of perception, language and memory. Cognitive training helped the elderly to maintain healthy cognitive processes, as well as to acquire cognitive gains.