ABSTRACT

Objective : The aim of this study was to assess the effects of exercise combined with cognitive activity on balance performing ability in elderly people with dementia.Methods : The cognitive activity tools used were the reminiscence activity and the art activity. Sixty senile dementia patients volunteered to participate in the present study and were divided into three groups: the ex-ercise with the reminiscence activity group(N=20) and the exercise with the art activity group(N=20) and exercise-only group(N=20). The period of the research was 3 months, beginning on Sep. 22, 2008 and The evaluating tools used for the present study were the Mini-Mental Status Exam-Korean (MMSE-K) and Berg Balance Scale (BBS).Results : The results of study were as follows. After 3 months, the MMSE-K and BBS total score increased more significantly for post-test than pretests(p<.05). Two groups applied the cognitive activity increased more significantly for the balance performing ability than the exercise-only group. The cognitive ability in the exercise-only group also improved. The MMSE-K and the BBS score in the exercise combined with reminiscence activity group (group 1) showed the strongest increase cyer than other groups.Conclusion : These findings suggest that the exercise combined with the cognitive activity can be used to improve the balance performing ability in the elderly people with decreased balance ability and dementia.