Document Type : Original article

Authors

• Arezoo Mojarrad ¹
• Esmaeil Sadri Damirchi ²
• Ali Sheykholeslami ³
• Ali Rezaeisharif ³
• Vahid Abbasi ⁴

¹ Ph.D. Student of Counseling, Faculty of Education sciences and Psychology, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil, Iran.

² Professor of Counseling, Faculty of Education sciences and Psychology, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil, Iran.

³ Associate Prof., Education and Psychology, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil,, Iran

⁴ Assistant Professor, Faculty of Medicine, University of Medical Sciences, Ardabil, Iran

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of the tDCS method and short-term cognitive rehabilitation protocol on verbal fluency and visuospatial ability in the elderly with mild Alzheimer's disease. Methods: The research method was an extended experiment with two experimental groups and one control group, which was conducted using the pre-test and post-test method. The statistical population included elderly people over 65 years of age with mild Alzheimer's who lived in Ardabil who had been referred to a neurologist in 2022,among these people, 60 people were randomly selected into two groups. An experimental and a control group were assigned. Then tDCS method was applied for 10 sessions of 20 minutes in one experimental group and short-term cognitive rehabilitation program for 9 sessions of 90 minutes was applied in the second experimental group and no intervention was performed in the third group. The post-test was conducted at an interval of one week. After one month, the studied groups were followed up again. Aden Brook's revised version of the cognitive test was used to collect data. Findings: The results showed that tDCS significantly improves the visual component and the cognitive rehabilitation method improves perception. In general, it seems that the performed interventions improved visual spatial ability in the elderly with mild Alzheimer's disease, while they had no significant effect on the variable of verbal fluency. Conclusion: It can be concluded that both methods can be used to improve the spatial visual ability of the elderly with mild Alzheimer's disease.

Keywords

• transcranial direct current stimulation
• cognitive rehabilitation
• visuospatial ability
• verbal fluency

Main Subjects

• Neuropsychology