EFFECT OF BRAIN FITNESS PROGRAMME ON COGNITION AND QUALITY OF LIFE AMONG SENIOR CITIZENS RESIDING IN OLD AGE HOMES: A PILOT STUDY

Background: Indian population is facing an increase in proportion of elderly, which in future will increase the morbidity prole, if not dealt properly. The present study explored the feasibility of brain tness programme among senior citizens staying at old age homes. Methodology: The study was conducted among senior citizens of age 60 years and above residing in two selected old age homes of Ernakulam district. Out of the 40 senior citizens screened, 22 participants who fullled the research criteria were included in the study. The two old age homes were randomly assigned to experimental and control group using lottery method. A total of 16 participants (seven from experimental group and nine from control group) completed the pilot study. Pre-assessment of participants were conducted using Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) and WHO Quality of life-OLD (WHOQOL-OLD). After the pre-assessment, the brain tness programme was administered to the senior citizens of experimental group for ten consecutive weeks. The post-assessment was conducted following the intervention, and at 3 months following the rst post-assessment using the same tools for both groups. Results: The data analysis showed a signicant change in the scores of cognition, and quality of life between experimental and control group on post-assessment1 which was sustained on post-assessment2. Analysis using Friedman's test showed signicant changes between pre assessment, post-assessment1 and post-assessment2 scores of cognition and quality of life among senior citizens of experimental group alone. Conclusion: Although the study results are promising, a large-scale study is necessary to establish the study outcome. The implementation of brain tness programme was well received by the participants and the study was found to be feasible.