Dementia prevention is front of Mind
For Australians, dementia ranks first among all causes of
death for women and is the second-leading cause of death overall. Professor
Nicola Lautenschlager, Professor of Psychiatry of Old Age and Director of the Academic
Unit for Psychiatry of Old Age, notes that non-medical approaches to enhancing
brain health, lowering the risk of dementia, supporting cognition, and
assisting with depression, anxiety, and stress are not widely known (AUPOA).
A single strategy simply won't work when it comes to ageing,
whether it be for clinical expertise, education, or research, according to
Professor Lautenschlager. We are dedicated to slowing the spread of dementia.
The Elderly Mental Health Program at Royal Melbourne Hospital (RMH), which employs a multidisciplinary approach, is closely partnered with Professor Lautenschlager and her research team. Visit Thesis Help
To approach such a complicated topic from a variety of
perspectives, it takes a variety of backgrounds, including those from
psychiatrists, psychologists, occupational therapists, exercise physiologists,
social workers, and other clinical and non-clinical specialists. There is
shared leadership and vision. According to Professor Lautenschlager.
The research team led by Professor Lautenschlager was awarded
funding in 2019 to create national guidelines to inform older Australians in
the 50+ age group who are concerned about their cognition about the type of
physical activity required to support not only physical fitness and fall
prevention but also brain and mental health.
These recommendations served as the inspiration for The EXCEL
Study, a project designed to assist middle-aged to older individuals in
improving their physical activity in order to enhance both their mental and
physical health.
Professor Lautenschlager and her team had financing from the Medical
Research Future Fund (MRFF) and were prepared to put the recommendations into
practise when the pandemic struck, derailing their preparations.
We revamped the programme with consent from MRFF and changed
the programme to an online format since we were aware that people's mental
health was significantly declining as a result of the isolation brought on by
ongoing lockdowns.
Fifty-five participants took part in the initiative - 87 per
cent were Victorians - from the protection of their home via tele-video
contact. Several subjects had admitted to having memory loss, anxiety, and
depressive symptoms. Participants received supplies and finished a 12-week
home-based physical exercise programme that was remotely provided online and
supported by frequent virtual meetings with members of the research team.
The intervention was quite effective, and participants
expressed great happiness. The programme proved successful in assisting
middle-aged and older persons with mental and cognitive difficulties to maintain
or raise their physical activity levels across the areas of aerobic, strength,
and balance, according to early data analysis.
These results give a robust foundation for modifying methods
in clinical care of older persons with mental and cognitive health issues. A
special platform for implementing the lessons from EXCEL in clinical settings
is made possible by the strong cooperation between University researchers and
RMH doctors.
The next phase of this research will examine whether certain
EXCEL-based principles can be automated with the aid of artificial intelligence
(AI) in order to reach more Australians, for instance by providing web-based
physical activity programmes for middle-aged and older adults with mild to
moderate anxiety.
Comments
Post a Comment