[Training program in strategies to improve memory].
BACKGROUND
The Training Program in Strategies to Improve Memory arises like answer to the high percentage of complaints that older people express on their loss of memory. The main aim of this program is to intervene in those failures, trying to improve the quality of life of this population sector, more and more numerous.


METHODS
The specific objectives of this Program are: to inform on what it is, how it works and how it is possible to improve the memory; to learn a wide range of useful strategies to obtain it; and to modify attitudes and beliefs on the memory of older people. The phases of the Program are: 1. Pre training evaluation: a battery of test, that have relation with the tasks and strategies that they are going to handle in the training sessions, is administered. 2. Training program: it consists of nine sessions of 90 minutes of duration each one, with a frequency of two sessions per week. In the sessions they deal with attention, concentration, memory, perception, language, etc., through the learning of the following strategies: association, categorization, visualization, repetition, etc. Each session has its own objectives, tasks and strategies to learn. There are 10 or 12 people in each group. 3. Posttraining evaluation: it is applied when finalizing the nine sessions of training. The same wide range of tests than in the first evaluation is administered (different forms or versions). 4. Final evaluation: it is made to the six months of the application of the training program. It tries to measure if the subjects keep on using the learnt strategies. 5. Monitoring sessions: during the six months mentioned, two monitoring sessions are carried out to fix the strategies to learnt. 6. Evaluation of the program: an evaluation of human and material resources employed and activities is made, just like the satisfaction with the program. At the present time, this program has been applied to 34 older than sixty people, and the results obtained demonstrate the existence of a clear improvement after the training, which is maintained six months after. But in addition to the mentioned improvement, the data show a reduction in the levels of anxiety and depression.
Delgado-Losada
M L
ML
Olderís People Home "La Paloma", Madrid, España. sguinea@uajen.es
D006801:Humans; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D015397:Program Evaluation; D013663:Teaching