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Applications numériques pour la maladie d'Alzheimer

Peut-on développer un outil numérique capable de retarder la dégradation de la mémoire sémantique et épisodique de personnes atteintes de la maladie d’Alzheimer ?

Abstract

Alzheimer’s disease is known to be one of the most feared illnesses. It affects personal identity and relationships with relatives and caregivers. More and more people are diagnosed every year but there is still no effective pharmacological treatment. That is why researchers are turning to non-drug solutions, such as cognitive stimulation. Our objective was double : we had to find evidence that these methods could actually delay the decline of episodic and/or semantic memory, responsible for the loss of personal identity. Then, we tried to determine whether it is possible to create a digital tool in order to optimize the use of these methods. Firstly, we analysed the literature about Alzheimer’s disease, memory, cognitive stimulation and existing digital applications which apply to it. Then, we carried out interviews to gather the perspective and needs of health professionals dealing every day with Alzheimer patients. We found that many studies have shown the effectiveness of cognitive stimulation therapy, improving cognition and quality of life. Furthermore, some of the digital applications we studied already show encouraging results although they remain underdeveloped or little known. Finally, we started to develop our own application, based on these results and what was missing or unexploited in existing applications and we provide the experimental protocol which could be used to validate the effectiveness of this new application.

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