Research on Social Work Practice, Ahead of Print.
Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of a 16-session multicomponent intervention to improve the cognitive abilities of older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) through the promotion of healthy lifestyle, cognitive skills, tai chi, and mindfulness exercises delivered by a social worker 6 months after the intervention. Method: This study was a 6-month follow-up of a pilot randomized controlled trial of 57 community-dwelling older adults who were randomly assigned to either a multicomponent intervention group (n = 30) or a non-active control group (n = 27). Results: Repeated measures of a mixed linear model showed that the intervention group had significantly greater improvement in cognitive ability at post-intervention, 3 months and 6 months compared with the control group. Conclusion: This study demonstrates that the intervention effects of the multicomponent intervention to improve the cognitive abilities of older adults with MCI persisted up to 6 months post-intervention.