Chanting as a Cognitive Training Method for Individuals with Early Stage Alzheimer’s Disease: A Preliminary Study

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of a chant-based cognitive rehabilitation program for patients with early stage Alzheimer’s disease(AD). Participants were 18 older adults, ages 62 to 87 years, who used a dementia care center in Seoul. All participants were randomly assigned to either the experimental (n = 9) or the control group (n = 9). The experimental group received a 30-minute individual session twice a week for five weeks while the control group received the conventional program in the center. The 7 Minute Screening (7MS) test was administered to assess orientation, memory, and verbal fluency of the participants in both groups. Results showed statistically significant increases in the scores from pretest to posttest on orientation (p＜.001, d = .72) and memory (p＜.05, d = .51) in the experimental group. All scores except verbal fluency showed significant increases at post-test for the experimental group while no significant increases were found in the control group. Comparisons between the control and experimental groups revealed statistical significance on orientation and memory, but not on the verbal fluency test. The results imply that chant can be a practical method for delaying cognitive decline among patients with early stage AD, and further investigation is needed.

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