PQRST ADAPTED MEMORIZING METHOD TO IMPROVE MEMORY AND COMPREHENSION AMONG DEMENTIA PATIENTS: A FEASIBILITY STUDY

Abstract

Background: Dementia has emerged as the seventh leading cause of death and the number of people affected with is set to rise to 139 million by 2050. The incidence of dementia appears to occur more frequently in rural areas than in urban areas. Dementia is an overall term for loss of memory, difficulty speaking, poor judgment and comprehension that gradually debilitate one’s daily living. The pqrst method that implies five steps namely preview, question, rephrase, state and test is believed to enhance one’s ability to retain information. The pqrst method can be adapted and typically delivered face-to-face to improve memory performance and comprehension among people living with dementia. Objective: To evaluate the effect of pqrst adapted memorizing method on memory and comprehension of dementia patients.

Method: The Mini-cog is a screening tool that helps to diagnose dementia. People scoring 0-3 on Mini-cog were included as participants (n=15). Measures for assessment of memory and comprehension were immediate, recent and remote subscales of ‘PGI memory scale’ and ‘Sentence-Picture matching’ tasks respectively.

Result: Results indicate that pqrst adapted memorizing method was effective in improving the scores on PGI memory scale and sentence-picture matching tasks of dementia patients.

Conclusion: The pqrst adapted memorizing method can be adopted at Dementia Rehabilitation centers, old age homes and Geriatric Care centers so that routine activities of people with dementia could be sustained.