Artikel
A psychomotor training program with elderly people in residential homes
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Veröffentlicht: | 18. Dezember 2006 |
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Gliederung
Text
The demographic change in Germany implies a rising need for geriatric care in the future. Life in a residential home becomes necessary if psychological, physical and mental changes have made an independent life impossible. Due to motor and cognitive restrictions, home inhabitants usually move insufficiently, which causes typically further function losses. Therefore, even with highly aged persons and persons in need of care, science and practice must aim at investigating the conditions for quality of life and focus on maintaining motor and cognitive functions as long as possible to make the last years worth living.
The study presented here addresses the question whether a 10-week psychomotor training program can improve resp. stabilize motor and cognitive functions and thus enable people to better accomplish activities of daily living (ADL) independently. In the intervention study N = 44 residential home inhabitants participated. The experimental group (f = 20, m = 2, age: 83,68 ± 6.32 years, 73 - 93 years) completed a 10-week twice weekly psychomotor training program. Emphasis of the training program was on gymnastic exercises and memory training. For the pre and post test motor functions as strength, coordination and flexibility were examined. Additionally, cognitive functions as well as activities of daily living (ADL) were assessed. The results show that the experimental group improved in relation to the control group (f = 18, m = 4, age: 82,95 ± 7.33 years, 64 - 95 years) concerning the motor functions ‘coordination’, ‘reaction speed’ and ‘flexibility’ as well as the cognitive functions ‘general cognitive rate of learning’ and ‘situation-referred basic functions’. Effects regarding ‘strength’ and ‘activities of daily living’ do not show up.
Altogether the results show that even in the high age and with multi morbid persons successes are possible by physical training. A further study with a stronger focus on strength training and an additional individual training program (e.g. practicing activities of daily life, e.g. stair rises) is to show whether this causes effects on strength and ADL activities.
References
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- Oswald, W.D. & Lehr, M. (1991). Altern – Veränderung und Bewältigung. Stuttgart: Hans Huber Verlag