Kontakt 2010, 12(3):307-314 | DOI: 10.32725/kont.2010.042

Benefits from courses of memory training in old people's homes in the county Strakonice from the viewpoint of seniorsHealth and Social Sciences

Petra Formánková^1,*, Lenka Motlová²

¹ Jihočeská univerzita v Českých Budějovicích, Zdravotně sociální fakulta, studentka doktorského studijního programu Specializace ve zdravotnictví, obor Prevence, náprava a terapie zdravotní a sociální problematiky dětí, dospělých a seniorů

² Jihočeská univerzita v Českých Budějovicích, Zdravotně sociální fakulta, katedra supervize a odborné praxe, Ústav sociální práce

The old people's homes belong to institutional social facilities and represent an institutional form of taking care of seniors, who are offered with accommodation, catering, help in managing common procedures of taking care of oneself and with a wide spectrum of activating actions. The article is focused on one of possibilities of the activation - memory training. The target of the research was to find what the benefit of courses of memory training is from the viewpoint of seniors in old people's homes in the county Strakonice. A further target was mapping of the satisfaction of seniors with courses of training the memory in old people's homes in this county. For the implementation of the research, a semi-standardized interview with thirty-two seniors, participants of the course, was used as a technique of the field data accumulation. The purpose of the semi-directed interview with the seniors was to find opinions of these clients concerning their own attendance of courses of memory training and to obtain information on factors affecting attending these activation programmes or tightly associated with them. The research demonstrated that memory trainings with different degrees of the difficulty are invited activities for the seniors. The seniors evaluate the benefits of the training of the memory particularly in the improvement or maintenance of good mood, and they emphasize better self-perception and increase in social openness and ability to communicate. It was found that every senior prefers a different type of training derived from his/her interests. The results show that senior men prefer sensory training, whereas senior women prefer knowledge-oriented competitions, crosswords or different quizes. Thus, based on the research implemented, it is to conclude that senior women attend the memory training courses for social reasons and senior men attend them for benefits of information and improvement of cognitive functions.

Keywords: old people's homes; memory training courses; county Strakonice; benefit; satisfaction

Received: June 11, 2010; Accepted: September 7, 2010; Published: October 20, 2010  Show citation