earticle

영어

[PURPOSE] The purposes of this study were to evaluate the effectiveness of a 12-week virtual reality exercise program designed around the Nintendo Wii(Wii), in improving Alzheimer’s dementia patients’ memories. [METHODS] 30 Alzheimer dementia patients were randomly assigned in to the experimental group(n=15) and control group(n=15). All subjects performed a routine cognitive therapy and, besides, experimental group performed three 40-minute Wii-exercise intervention sessions per week, for 12 weeks. Before and after the Wii intervention, subjects’ cognitive functions were evaluated using the Cognitive Assessment Reference Diagnosis System (CARDS) and Mini-Mental State Examination-Korea (MMSE-K) test. Statistical significance was tested within and between each group before and after treatment by Wilcoxon signed rank test and Mann-Whitney U test. [RESULTS] Among the CARDS scores of the subjects who received Wii-exercise, the scores of the delayed 10-word list, delayed 10-object list, recognition 10-object, and recent memory significantly increased after intervention compared to those before intervention(p<.01). In addition, among the MMSE-K items, the orientation, registration, and recall showed significant increases in the experimental group(p<.05). The control group saw no statistically significant change. There was a statistically significant CARDS and MMSE-K score differences after intervention between the groups(p<.05). 76.9% of experimental group responded positively when asked if they would like to continue using the Wii-game in the future. [CONCLUSIONS] These suggest that a virtual reality exercise program using the Wii-game, is effective in delaying memory deterioration and improving cognitive function of elderly people with Alzheimer dementia.