People with dementia can now remember their daily tasks through the help of smartphone technology as per a study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
The study trained 52 older adults with mild cognitive impairment or mild dementia to use a digital voice recorder app or a reminder app for almost four weeks. The participants reported appreciable improvements in performing daily intentions after the intervention.
‘Smartphone technology helps older adults with mild dementia to complete their daily tasks efficiently for a better quality of life.’
In addition, they also performed relatively well with tasks and the smartphone apps like reminder app and the digital voice recorder app. Thus, the greater usage of the digital recorder or reminder apps was associated with better memory and greater improvements in activities of daily living.
“There is this pervasive notion that older adults dislike technology, but we found that participants enjoyed learning to use smartphone memory apps and were able to improve their daily prospective memory performance. With the help of smart technology companies, we can make great headway on improving functioning and quality of life for families impacted by Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias,” says lead author Michael K. Scullin, Ph.D., of Baylor University.
Source: Medindia
