Abstract:

The results that are presented here were acquired based on an internal grant competition (UJEP-IGS-2018-72-001-1) that was focused on Evaluation of Ergotherapeutic Intervention focused on Geriatric Clients in Ústí nad Labem and which has been provided by The University of Jana Evangelisty Purkyně in Ústí nad Labem in 2018. In this project we collaborated with 60 probands that were diagnosed with either light or medium form of Alzheimer's disease. The number of people diagnosed with this disease increase rapidly. In 2014 there were 153 000 people with Alzheimer’s disease on the territory of The Czech Republic while the estimate for 2020 is over 183 000 people. So the statistical data confirm the well-known fact that the number of these people will increase constantly which is also given by the overall aging of the population. There is a gradual deterioration of cognitive functions with following memory loss and disorientation by place, time and person at people suffering from the Alzheimer's disease. The aim of our intervention was to provide an educational procedure that will help the elderly to fight against this issue. We have focused on input, control and output testing with the help of standardized test Mini Mental State Exam (MMSE) within the experimental group (active participation in the intervention) as well as within control group (passive participation in the intervention). This test evaluated individual components of cognitive functions of the probands. We choose comparison of the results of input, control and output testing as a methodology using nonparametric statistical analysis which does not require so-called Gaussian data layout. The evaluation of the results was made using Mann-Whitney Test at the level of significance α = 0, 05. Then, we used classical special pedagogical approaches for educational intervention using modern technologies, in this case virtual reality which is offered by freely available commercial product Plazstation 4 + Virtual Reality. The virtual reality has become an important cognitive rehabilitation helper for us. Special educational procedures were focused not only to the development of cognitive functions but also to development of fine and rough motoring where we used a number of training sheets that support a pencil-paper form of work. As a research conclusion, it is important to mention that regular activation of seniors has a positive effect on the development of cognitive functions as well as on the development of fine or rough motoring.

Keywords:

assisting professions,communication development, cognitive rehabilitation, dementia, educational intervention, ergotherapy, special education