Living well with MCI: Behavioral interventions for older adults with mild cognitive impairment

Along with identifying effective medications, the development and evaluation ofbehavioral interventions to assist in managing symptoms and improving quality of life inpersons with MCI is critical. In this chapter, we first review the literature on behavioralinterventions used with healthy older adults and individuals with MCI and AD. We thenreport on a pilot study from our research group that examined the feasibility of twobehavioral interventions to improve daily function and quality of life in individuals withMCI. One intervention used electronic memory devices to compensate for memoryimpairment and the other intervention used cognitive-behavioral therapy techniques andtraining with non-electronic memory aids. Challenges associated with implementing abehavioral intervention for MCI patients are discussed, along with recommendations forestablishing an MCI treatment program. Further development and validation ofbehavioral interventions that could be accessible to and employed by clinics andhospitals where MCI patients receive diagnosis and treatment are needed.