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Part of CogTale’s mission is to provide easy-to-read, plain language information about the field of cognitive interventions.
Over the past few decades, hundreds of research studies have explored the use of cognition-oriented treatments in older adult populations. CogTale is here to help you navigate the research.
Cognitive interventions are interventions that focus on how we think. The goal is to improve our brain’s performance when we do something, like making decisions, learning, or trying to remember a detail. Some forms of cognitive interventions are cognitive training, cognitive rehabilitation and cognitive stimulation. Below you can read more about the different types of cognitive interventions.
Cognitive training, or CT for short, Also called brain training, retraining, or remediation, refers to a set of activities that train your brain on general abilities like memory, attention, or problem-solving. Sometimes, the training can even involve daily life activities like online shopping or setting up a dinner table. By practising these tasks, you can improve your brain’s processing, or help maintain it if you are experiencing cognitive decline. Another important aspect of cognitive training is that practice in one area will help another area if they rely on the same basic abilities. This is especially important for people with dementia. Today, many cognitive training programs are done on the computer.
Cognitive rehabilitation involves programs specially designed for an individual’s specific goals. It has a focus on helping people improve their performance in specific activities of daily living, depending on their needs. For example, personalised education depending on needs, training on how to use memory tools and help with strategies for performing everyday tasks.
Cognitive stimulation involves activities or exercises designed to be mentally-engaging and challenge thinking abilities. Cognitive stimulation is more broad and less structured than CT. Some common cognitive stimulating activities include crosswords, puzzles and strategy games.
Cognition-oriented treatments in Australian Memory Clinics
CogTale highlights the growing evidence base for cognitive interventions in people at risk of developing or living with dementia. Currently, research is seeking to increase the use of cognition-oriented treatments in older people with mild cognitive impairment in Australian memory clinics. To learn more about this implementation study, please watch this recent presentation by Dr. Alex Bahar-Fuchs at the National Allied Health Virtual Research Forum 2024 displayed below. This presentation details the work of the Australian Dementia Network (ADNet) Cognitive Interventions Working Party, including the clinician training toolkit eCourse available through CogTale.
This pilot implementation study focuses on clinician capacity building within Australian memory clinics. It seeks to provide patients access to evidence-based post-diagnostic support and treatment.
Resources
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