Non-pharmacological Interventions on Cognitive Functions in Older People With Mild Cognitive Impairment

The participants' cognitive function was assessed by the Mini-Mental State Examination (cut point base for participants' levels of education).

Malek-Ahmadi et al., (2012) a 21-item, informant-based dementia assessment designed for ease of use in a primary care setting.

There are 11 items and include general memory and prospective memory sections for analysis the type and frequency of memory problem in elders' daily live. Items are posed in likert scale ranges from 1 (never) to 5 (always). The total score may range from 11-55. A higher score indicates a higher level of memory impaired.

The Tinetti Performance-Oriented Mobility Assessment (POMA) is a balance tool that was originally developed for use in the institutionalized, older adult population and contains both a balance and a gait component (Tinetti, 1986). The test comprises 16 items (9 balance-related items and 7 gait-related items), with the highest achievable score being 28 points

A short-form Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) that consisted of 15 questions was the primary outcome measure (Sheikh and Yesavage, 1986). Scores of 0-4 are considered normal; 5-8 indicates mild depression; 9-11 indicates moderate depression; and 12-15 indicates severe depression. The Chinese version of the GDS-15 demonstrates high reliability (Liao et al., 2005); in this study, the Cronbach's α is .91.

The SF-36 questionnaire was used to measure quality of life. This 36-item questionnaire assesses health-related functions for eight distinct domains, which can be divided into physical component and mental component scales. Subsequent to summing the Likert-scaled items in the SF-36 survey, scores in each scale are standardized so that they each range from 0 to 100.