ผลของโปรแกรมกระตุ้นศักยภาพสมองด้านการรู้คิดต่อคลื่นไฟฟ้าสมองในผู้สูงอายุที่มีภาวะสมองเสื่อม: การศึกษาเบื้องต้นEffects of the Cognitive Stimulation Therapy on Electroencephalogram among the Older Adults with Dementia: A Preliminary Study

Abstract

Objective: To determine effects of a Cognitive Stimulation Therapy (CST) program on the Electroencephalogram (EEG) in demented older adults. Methods: This quasi-experimental study use the one-group pretest-posttest design. The participants were 30 older adults who had Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score of mild to moderate dementia in the government elderly nursing home selected by simple random sampling. The study was conducted from February to April 2024. The participants received the 14 theme sessions of CST program based on the Isan cultural context twice a week over 7 weeks. A 5-minute resting-state EEG (eyes open) was collected by the Emotiv EPOCX Neuroheadset for pre- and post-test measurements. The EEG relative powers for theta and alpha oscillations were performed offline in MATLAB (version R2023b) with EEGLAB plugin Darbeliai (version 2023.0). A paired t-test one group pre-test and post-test design was used for analyses of theta and alpha relative powers. Results: The intervention yielded improvement, but the effect size was small (d = 0.38). Significant pre- to post-intervention increases were observed in relative EEG power following completion of the CST program. The average of each frequency band was calculated across the average of fronto-central (FC5-FC6) electrodes. The theta (4-8 Hz) wave, as a low-frequency wave, was significantly decreased (p <.05), and also the Alpha wave (8-12 Hz), as a high-frequency wave pattern, significantly increased (p < .01) at the fronto-parietal lobe of both cerebral hemispheres. Conclusion: The findings suggest that the CST program, adapted to the Isan cultural context, is an effective group intervention to improve cognitive decline in demented older adults. Nurses should be trained to have adequate competency to provide the CST program. Further research is required to promote the maintenance longer-term effects of cognitive intervention.