A study on occurrence of cognitive impairment among the elderly with a view to implement a need-based teaching regarding care of the elderly to caregivers

Abstract

Background: Age is the major change that comes in everyone’s life that is fixed and definite for all human beings that change brings old age which comprises of later part of one’s life where an individual has lots of memory, experiences, and appreciate his indeed to live with a satisfaction that he was able to achieve all the goals of life. Cognitive impairment is a condition that is related to the age of an individual and considered as an originator to lead a serious disease such as dementia Alzheimer’s disease and depression. Objectives: The objectives of the study were to find the occurrence rate of cognitive impairment among the elderly in the selected community area and develop and implement the need-based teaching regarding the care of the elderly to caregivers. Materials and Methods: Quantitative research approach was adopted for the present study. A total of 246 adolescents were selected through total enumerate sampling technique. And after ethical committee permission, data were collected by administering mini mental status examination to the participants. The data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: This study shown that the occurrence rate of cognitive impairment was found (57.3%) moderately cognitively impaired and on screening basis need-based teaching was given to the caregivers of elderly screened as cognitively impaired. There is a significant association between ages of the elderly with the level of cognitive impairment tested at 0.05 level of significance. Conclusion: The study concluded that majority of the elderly were screened with cognitive impairment and for home care and management of those elderly, a need-based teaching was given to their caregivers.