Older adults with dementia or mild cognitive impairment can improve their memory by using a smartphone personal assistant, research has found.
The study was published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
Researchers studied older adults with these conditions and tracked how they performed various memory tasks over a four-week period.
The participants were instructed to take photos at certain locations and make phone calls on particular days.
The researchers trained the participants how to use a personal assistant smartphone app to set reminders for these and other daily tasks that they struggled to remember.
Andrew Kiselica, assistant professor in the MU School of Health Professions, said:
“We were successfully able to train the adults to use the technology, and also the adults that used the personal assistants the most had the best memory performance.
“Some people may have had doubts about if we could train these older adults with cognitive impairment to use the technology or if they would find it helpful, and the preliminary evidence suggests it helped them with their memory and improved their quality of life.”
Kiselica noted that there has been an increase in technology use among older adults during the pandemic.
The researcher is keen to find out whether memory can be improved with the help of technological interventions.
“One interest area of my research is figuring out how do we best diagnose people with cognitive impairment conditions as early as possible,” Kiselica said.
“Then, once they receive the diagnosis, how can we help them manage their condition so they can live their best life possible, and this is one solution that seemed to work well.”
Kiselica has a personal interest in dementia.
Both of the researcher’s grandfathers developed the condition, one of whom lost the ability to walk and speak.
“I am passionate about helping others that might be going through similar difficulties,” Kiselica said.
“If we can encourage the use of technology-based strategies in older adults with thinking issues, they may have better memory performance over the long term.”
