Журнал болезни Альцгеймера и паркинсонизма

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The Effects of Playing the ?We are Family? Brain Games in People with Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Feasibility Study

Ioulietta Lazarou, Ioulietta Lazarou, Margarita Grammatikopoulou, Lampros Mpaltadoros, Ioanna Provata, Thanos G. Stavropoulos, Spiros Nikolopoulos, Chrysostomos Bourlis, Angelos Konstantinidis, Voula Ganosi, Ioannis Kompatsiaris, Magda Tsolaki

Background: Brain games are increasingly gaining attention as a non-pharmacological intervention to promote well-being and quality of life in people with cognitive impairment.

Objective: Herein we present the “We Are Family” (WAF) seniors mobile application and a feasibility study to evaluate its impact on the emotions of people in the spectrum of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) ranging from Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) to AD. WAF includes 10 modules each one assessing different cognitive functions, such as memory, complex thinking, sustained attention, and short-term memory.

Methods: The feasibility study aims to investigate whether the current WAF app brain games and design has an impact on emotions of people with MCI and mild AD. The Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) scale was used to evaluate the participants’ emotional state before and after interacting with the WAF brain games. Additionally, we have collected information with regards to the preferences of the end-users about the application through a constructive questionnaire and open-ended tailored questions.

Results: Our findings demonstrated acceptance of the WAF app, with the participants referring to their experience as positive. A small increase in their overall positive emotions for the MCI group was noted and significant decrease for the negative emotion “Afraid”.

Conclusion: These preliminary results show that people with MCI and mild AD experienced positive emotions while playing the WAF brain games, suggesting that people with cognitive impairment may benefit from using this type of software on a daily basis.