effects of a computerised cognitive stimulation versus stimulating leisure activities

Conditions: Mild Cognitive Impairment; Randomized Controlled Trial; Subjective Cognitive Impairment

Summary: the aim of the study is to evaluate, at the level of global cognition, cognitive neuroconstructs, memory, verbal fluency, adls, iadls, symptoms of depression and anxiety, the effectiveness of a personalised and adapted computerised cognitive stimulation programme (gi1) implemented from primary care versus stimulating leisure activities (gi2), in older adults aged 50 years and over with mild cognitive impairment and subjective cognitive impairment living in the community.

a randomised controlled trial (rct) will be conducted. the sample will consist of 59 participants aged 50 years and older, all of whom are patients in primary care practices. intervention intervention group 1 (ig1) will carry out personalised and adapted computerised ce through the stimulus platform; 30 minutes/day, 5 days/week, 8 weeks; 40 sessions. the following will be worked on: memory, orientation, language, praxis, gnosis, calculation, perception, logical reasoning, attention-concentration and executive functions. stimulus is a ce platform, which allows individualised intervention through the use of icts with different populations. intervention group 2 (ig2) will perform between 2 and 5 cognitively stimulating leisure activities for 8 weeks. these leisure activities will be selected from the adapted version of the karp et al. 2006 questionnaire (karp et al., 2006) taking into account the three components of leisure activities (mental, physical and social). the questionnaire contains 29 activities \[1) reading, 2) arts and crafts, 3) crosswords and word search puzzles, 4) interest in politics, 5) playing cards or chess, 6) visiting the second home, 7) attending courses, 8) watching television, 9) going to the theatre or concerts, 10) playing sports, 11) going to exhibitions or museums, 12) meeting friends, 13) walking, 14) listening to the radio, 15) travelling, 16) gardening, 17) painting, drawing or taking photos, 18) participating in family or charity activities, 19) outdoor activities, 20) collecting stamps or other items, 21) cooking, 22) writing, 23) doing housework, 24) attending religious activities, 25) playing musical instruments, 26) playing solitaire, 27) following the stock market or investing, 28) playing bingo, 29) singing\]. in addition to indicating which cognitively stimulating leisure activities they perform on a weekly basis, participants in ig2 will indicate their daily frequency (\ 2 hours), commenting on whether they have carried them out individually or in a group. it will also be taken into account whether these activities were previously carried out according to their stage of life. the control group (cg) will not receive any intervention during the study period. at the end of the study, the control group will be offered to participate in either of the following two interventions. there will be a pre-intervention, post-intervention assessment and two follow-ups at 6 and 12 months. firstly, an assessment protocol will be used with ad hoc socio-demographic variables, referring to clinical characteristics and in relation to lifestyle. these variables will be collected in a socio-health record. in addition, if participants do not have a diagnosis of mci, the mec-35 will be used to apply the inclusion and exclusion criteria.

Eligibility criteria:
inclusion criteria: * ≥ 50 years old, resident in the community. * diagnosis of mci or having between 24 and 27 points on the mec-35 (this score seems to indicate the presence of mci) (calero, m. d and navarro, 2006). * subjective cognitive impairment (score between 28-31 points on the mec-35) (gómez-soria et al. 2023) exclusion criteria: * institutionalisation. * taking acetylcholinesterase inhibitors as they may act on global cognition and/or cognitive functions. * sensory deficits (deafness and blindness) preventing intervention. * agitation. * having received cognitive stimulation in the last 12 months.

Keywords: mild cognitive impairment older adults elderly randomized controlled trial cognitive stimulation cognitive intervention cognitively stimulating leisure activities leisure activities subjective cognitive impairment