PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to develop spaced retrieval training as a nursing intervention for patients having an mild alzheimer's disease and to determine the effects of the program on their memory and cognitive function across training sessions. METHODS A non-equivalent control group pre test-post test design was used in this study. Participants were recruited from a local community: 14 patients were allocated into experimental group and 12 patients were allocated into control group. The experimental group was asked to participate in spaced retrieval training over 4 weeks, with seven times a week and 1 hour a session based. The study was conducted from June 20, 2011 to July 17, 2011. Data was analyzed with descriptive statistics, chi2-test and t-test using the SPSS/WIN 19.0 program. RESULTS After spaced retrieval training, the experimental group showed significant increases in scores for memory (t=12.40, p<.001) and cognitive function (t=7.69, p<.001) in comparison to the control group. CONCLUSION Spaced retrieval training was effective in increasing cognitive function and memory of patients having mild alzheimer's disease. Therefore spaced retrieval training could be benefit the mild alzheimer's disease.
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