The Effect of a Narrative Intervention Program for People Living with Dementia

Multiple areas in the cerebral cortex are active during the listening of narrative material, and these activations in the brain produce significant changes in connectivity. In a pathological population living in nursing homes, patients who underwent daily narra- tive training showed some improvements in many psychological and cognitive aspects. Here we aim to investigate the effects of such training in many cognitive aspects. At the beginning and end of a 40-day narrative training, participants with cognitive decline were tested with the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status to quantify any improvements in individual performance. Results were compared with those of a control group of patients. Results show a significant increase in performances of the experimental group in domains such as immediate memory, language, attention, and delayed memory. Results replicate and expand previous findings, indicating that this type of training could increase cognitive performance and could be implemented as an effective nonpharmacological treatment for the cognitive wellness in both the pathological and nonpathological elderly.