The effect of an individual or group intervention format in cognitive stimulation of patients with Alzheimer’s disease

Abstract

The study aimed to verify whether the format of an individual or group intervention, applied in a multimodal cognitive stimulation program (MCSP), had an impact on progression and beha vioral disturbances associated with Alzheimer’s disease patients (AD). Forty-fi ve participants diagnosed with probable AD were randomly divided into 3 groups. The performance of both experimental groups, receiving the MCSP either in individual or in group format, were compared with a control group with the use of a pre-post design on standard neuropsychological, functional and behavioral measures. Both MCSP groups achieved to signifi cantly slow the progression of cognitive impairment and reduce behavioral symptoms associated with AD patients. However, the individual intervention format increases the benefi ts of the MCSP for AD patients in comparison with the group format.