Playing Games for Combating Cognitive Impairment

Background Ideable Solutions is a ICT Company which is developing a technical software for the elderly. It’s a platform that helps caring elderly people at home by tablets using: - Videoconference with caregivers and relatives. - Sharing pics by relatives. - Watching videos at home. - Sending reminders on health control, medication management, etc. - Monitoring health data - Etc. Cognitiva Memory Units is a company that work in its centres with elderly people that have started suffering cognitive impairment. Objective: From april to September Cognitiva Memory Units will test a platform based on serious games, in which: - Cognitiva’s psychologists define the cognitive impairment level for each person. - They create a roadmap of games that must be played by that patient. - Games are related to mental capabilities that must be trained in each case. - Elderly people receive reminders for playing in tablets in a very usable and accessible platform. - Executions of games are evaluated in real-time by psychologists. Methods: Cognitiva Memory units and Ideable are working together in defining a platform that lets psychologists define therapies for the elderly depending on: - Cognitive level. - Capabilities that they must work on. - Types of games They define a training route that must be done by playing different days to the games that have been assigned to each person. Cognitiva’s methodology with its users has been approved by Spanish Azheimer Association. Participants: 60-80 people over 65 with memory problems, cognitive impairments or other degenerative diseases diagnosed. Variables: The dependent variables that are used in the study are those that will be measured in the 3 assessments. These variables will be measured through neuropsychological assessment protocol for Cognitiva, which consists of the following scales: • Neuropsi • RIAS (Memory Scale) • Test Clock • Test Short Attention • Trial Making Test A-B-TMT • Beck-TFF • GDS • Zarit • AVD-Johnson Besides these ones also consider those calculated pacing platform Computer: ICG (general cognitive index), emotional state after each session of stimulation, self stimulation session and total time of stimulation. These variables are calculated automatically by the platform, giving a cumulative total of all the sessions so far. Results Once all data is collected we shall start comparisons by SPSS software with a significance level of p <0.05. We want to identify how effective is the ICT platform for delaying and even stopping cognitive impairment by playing serious games defined in kwido platform. All the results of games played by patients let Cognitiva’s psychologists track the evolution of patients’ cognitive impairment and even change roadmap for including new games related to the capability that is going worse. Conclusions We want to present as conclusions how playing games can be effective against cognitive impairment, in terms of how time played improves players’ cognitive ages. []