Abstract

LIMA-SILVA, Thais Bento  and  YASSUDA, Monica Sanches. Cognitive training and educational intervention for individuals with hypertension: effects on cognition. Psicol. Reflex. Crit. [online]. 2012, vol.25, n.1, pp. 30-40. ISSN 0102-7972.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0102-79722012000100005.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the possibility of combining cognitive training to an educational intervention composed by eight sessions about hypertension for a better management of the disease among the elderly. METHODS: 64 older adults who reported having hypertension, divided into experimental group (EG, n=35) and control group (CG, n=29) participated in the study. Control participants received training after the post-test. The protocol contained socio-demographic and clinical data, Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), Rivermead Behavioral Memory Test (RBMT), Verbal Fluency Animal Category (VF) and Short Cognitive Test (SKT). RESULTS: The EG showed better cognitive performance when compared with the CG, at post-test. CONCLUSION: Cognitive gains may occur after psychoeducational interventions for older adults with hypertension.

Keywords : Elderly people; cognition; cognitive training; hypertension; psychoeducation.