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Effects of a three-year exercise therapy program on cognitive functioning of elderly personal care home residents

Rest Haven Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Adjunct Faculty, York College, York, Pennsylvania

Elise B. Lindenmuth, PhD

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of the Intense Exercise Therapy (IET) on the cognitive levels offunctioning of elderly persons monitored for three years. The study was based on the premise that daily group exercise enhances physiological as well as psychological processes and consequently may improve cognitive abilities for elderly persons. The study hypothesized that the cognitive functioning level of elderly persons participating in the IET would be significantly higher than the level of those persons in the no treatment control group. A previous study by Lindenmuth and Moose' indicated a positive effect of exercise therapy on cognitive functioning for Alzheimer patients.

The sample consisted of 82 elderly (64-98 years old) residents of eight separate personal care facilities in Pennsylvania. Residents who volunteered attended by choice either group exercise therapy or a no treatment control group. A pretest, posttest experimental design was utilized in an attempt to control extraneous variables. Pretreatment, during treatment, and posttreatment measures were collected on the Cognitive Abilities Screening Test (CAST).

After participating in the IET, elderly persons were found to have significantly higher (2 < .001) cognitivefunctioning levels. Thesefindings lead to the conclusion that effects of the IETincluded an improvement in cognitive levels offunctioningfor the elderly participants in the treatment group. In addition, elderly persons in the control group showed Alzheimer-like symptoms and demonstrated CAST scores indicative of moderate impairment and organic brain disease. The implication is that a strategy such as the IET used by personal care homes and other institutions caring for the elderly would be of benefit in assisting elderly residents to maintain and improve cognitive levels. The IET is especially practical due to ease of use, low cost, and brevity of actual exercise sessions.

American Journal of Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias®, Vol. 9, No. 1, 20-24 (1994)
DOI: 10.1177/153331759400900104


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