The effects of a Psychomotor Activation Programme for use in groups of cognitively impaired people in homes for the elderly

Objectives. To test the effects of the Psychomotor Activation Programme (PA P) on the behaviour and cognition of demented elderly people. Design. Randomized controlled trial with an experimental group and a contro l group. Post-test after 6 months. Setting. Group care projects for demented elderly people living in 11 diffe rent homes for the elderly in The Netherlands. Participants. One hundred and thirty-four subjects entered the study (72 in the experimental group and 62 in the control group), 42 of whom dropped ou t (27 in the experimental group and 15 in the control group). Measurements. Individual behaviour and group behaviour were scored using tw o Dutch scales (BIP and SIPO respectively) developed and validated for use in psychogeriatric populations. Cognition was measured with the short and t he long versions of the Cognitive Screening Test (CST-14 and CST-20). Disab ility was measured with the Barthel Index. Medicine use, falls, other accid ents and life events were registered. Results. The PAP had a beneficial effect on cognition (CST-14, F = 2.63, p less than or equal to 0.05, effect size 0.4) (CST-20, F = 3.77, p less than or equal to 0.05, effect size 0.5) and increased positive group behaviour in participants with relatively mild cognitive problems (SIPO, F = 4.46, p less than or equal to 0.05). Conclusions. The PAP stabilizes cognitive performance and has some benefici al effects on behaviour. Positive findings were supported by a simultaneous ly conducted process evaluation. Copyright (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.