The Role of leisure activities throught adult life span, a comparative study between MCI patients and healthy older adults.

FELDBERG, C.; STEFANI, D. ; TARTAGLINI, M.F.; HERMIDA, P.D.; SOMALE, V.; ALLEGRI, R.

Chicago

Conferencia; AAIC 2018 - Alzheimer´s Association International Conference; 2018

Alzheimer´s Association

Background: Participation in leisure activities has been associated with favorable late-life psychological and cognitive outcomes. The Cognitive Reserve theory posits that greater participation in leisure activities and substitution of activities that are no longer available with new activities are the best ways to promote overall well-being with aging. The aim of the present study is to analyze whether there is a difference in the participation in leisure activities between MCI patients and healthy older adults.Method: This was a restrospective comparative study of 130 MCI patients (n= 80) (M=76, 74 years old; ds=6.8 years) and healthy older adults (n=50) (M=71.51 years (ds=8.92) Instruments: Questionnaire of Social Demographic Data (built ad hoc), Questionnaire of Social Participation.Results: Results reveal that when comparing the groups, statistically significant differences in favor of the group of healthy older adults were found in their involvement in: Social Activities (F(130, 1) = 3.72, p < .05) , Recreational Activities (F(130, 1) = 3.55, p < .05), Educational Activities (F(130, 1) = 7.09, p < .01) before retirement and Recreational Activities (F(130, 1) = 3.02, p < .05), Educational Activities (F(130, 1) = 13.03, p < .01) at the present time.Conclusions: These results agree with other studies which identified the factors that promote healthy cognitive aging in older adults. Within the framework of cognitive reserve, participation in social, recreational, and educational activities play a differential and important role in the enhancement of cognitive abilities, being important buffers of cognitive deterioration in the aging process. The present study coincides with other researches, and adds empirical evidence of interest for the clinical and scientific fields of healthy cognitive ageing.