(P33) Promoting Brain Health in Senior Living Facilities: An Educational Approach

Introduction/Objective: Cognitive decline, including Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and dementia, is a growing concern for older adults. This educational program aims to raise awareness of modifiable factors affecting cognitive health, including social engagement, lifestyle choices, sleep and intellectual activities. By educating residents of senior living facilities, the program empowers them to adopt preventive measures, maintain cognitive function, and recognize early signs of cognitive decline.

Design/Methodology : A pilot group of 96 participants ( aged 60 and older), residing in a continuing-care residential community, participated in the Community Cognitive Health Course Series divided into five weekly sessions. Each session focused on different topics, including types of dementia, cognitive impact of lifestyle choices and sleep et al. Sessions began with a pre-session survey to assess baseline knowledge, followed by an informational presentation, and an activity. Post-session survey were administered to evaluate knowledge gained and confidence in applying the concepts.

Results: Session 1 (Dementia and MCI): Knowledge increased by 7.8% with a better understanding of dementia and MCI.
Session 2 (Social Engagement): Despite a 34.5% drop in knowledge (due to question phrasing), participants showed increased recognition of social interaction’s importance and a greater likelihood of engaging in social activities.
Session 3 (Diet and Exercise): Knowledge rose by 4.5%, though some confusion remained about brain-healthy foods.
Session 4 (Sleep): Knowledge increased by 4.1%, with a 7.8% boost in confidence about sleep’s role in brain health.
Session 5 (Intellectual Activities): 3.3% rise in understanding the value of stimulating activities.
Self-reported confidence across sessions indicate an increase in participant confidence over time. Outliers reporting “Not Confident” decreased as sessions progressed, suggesting the sessions were effective in building participant confidence.
Median ratings of Self-reported satisfaction with the content and delivery remain consistent between "Neutral" and "Satisfied" across sessions.
Mean scores of the impact of the brain health sessions on behaviors fall in between “No Change” and “Slightly Improved.” With no reports of worsening behaviors, these findings suggest that providing educational sessions in senior living facilities offers potential benefits without negative impacts.

Conclusion/Discussion : The educational program yielded beneficial results. It improved participants' understanding of important cognitive health factors, such as social engagement and lifestyle choices. Additionally, participants felt more confident in their knowledge, which encouraged behavioral changes.
Moving forward, we aim to eliminate any imperfections observed in this iteration and use participant feedback to create even more impactful programs. Nonetheless, these findings suggest that this educational initiative can be implemented on a wide scale to promote cognitive health in senior living communities.