Comparing the effectiveness of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and short-term cognitive rehabilitation protocol on Symptoms of hallucinations and delusions in the elderly with mild Alzheimer's disease

The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and short-term cognitive rehabilitation protocol on Symptoms of hallucinations and delusions in the elderly with mild Alzheimer's disease. The research method was an extended experiment with two experimental groups and one control group, which was conducted using the pre-test and post-test method. The statistical population included all elderly people over 65 years of age with mild Alzheimer's who had referred to a neurologist in 1401, and among these people, 60 people were selected by available sampling and then randomly. They were assigned in two experimental groups and one control group (20 people in each group). Then, the independent variables of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) for 10 sessions of 20 minutes once a week on an experimental group and a short-term cognitive rehabilitation program for 9 sessions (90 minutes each session) It was designed according to the documentary method and based on Luria's (1963) healthy function replacement approach, and after confirming the validity of the content by experts, it was applied to the second experimental group once a week, and no intervention was performed on the third group. After the end of the intervention, the post-test was conducted with an interval of one week on the experimental and control groups. After one month, the studied groups were followed up again. Neuropsychological Questionnaire (NPI) was used to collect data. The results showed that both methods improve hallucination symptoms in the elderly with mild Alzheimer's and there is no significant difference between the effectiveness of these two methods. while they had no significant effect on the delusion variable. Therefore, it can be concluded that both methods can be used to improve hallucinations in the elderly with mild Alzheimer's disease.