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The population of the Western world is aging, and cognitive and mental deterioration in adults is becoming increasingly frequent and severe for our society. While technology becomes indispensable in our lives and the processing of data and information becomes faster every year, the information processing capacity of most people consistently worsens as they age. Cognitive decline is a common problem in older adults and leads to serious physical and mental health issues, which can greatly limit a person’s independence in old age. Many studies suggest that mental stimulation, an active social life, and physical activity can reduce the progression of cognitive decline. In recognition of these issues, the Madrid City Council founded the Center for the Prevention of Cognitive Decline.

THE INITIATIVE

In recognition of these issues, the Madrid City Council founded the Center for the Prevention of Cognitive Decline. As part of this initiative, in collaboration with the Polytechnic University of Madrid, a web platform has been developed that older adults can use to obtain cognitive stimulation through engaging in various mentally challenging activities. This cognitive stimulation could help mitigate the progression of mental and cognitive decline. At the same time, it can provide psychologists with a way to analyze data collected from these activities to gain insight into their patients’ conditions and prescribe treatments accordingly.

These features include a system for managing and guiding users’ progress with personalized work plans, visualizing and contextualizing user activity data, and tools for initial examination and assessment of a user’s cognitive ability. This project is in constant progress and evolution, and continues to receive updates and new functionalities.

THE PROJECT

The website features numerous exercises divided into categories corresponding to different cognitive abilities, each with its own levels, rules, and analyzed metrics.

The platform consists of 5 stimulation tests implemented using multiplatform technology such as HTML5, JavaScript, and PHP. Additionally, it is capable of recording the progress made by the patient using a MySQL database. Being a multiplatform website, the application adapts to desktop computers, mobile devices, and tablets. Finally, the platform has been evaluated and analyzed through a usability test conducted with patients and healthcare personnel, aiming to identify faults within the application and potential improvements for future implementation.

OBJECTIVES

The general objective is to design and develop an experimental platform aimed at cognitive stimulation for elderly people suffering from mild cognitive impairment. By experimental platform, it is meant that this is not a production-phase platform. Currently, there are some cognitive stimulation tests from Madrid Salud intended for these patients that are used daily, but they are not capable of storing data. Therefore, the aim is to completely renew this set of cognitive stimulation tests by creating an entirely new platform capable of recording data generated by users for future research purposes. The specific objectives to be achieved at this stage are:

– Design of cognitive stimulation tests: design the exercises according to the proposals of clinical staff. Starting from their ideas on paper, they will be developed within the platform.

– Implementation of cognitive stimulation tests: the implementation will be carried out in HTML5, using JavaScript or PHP when necessary.

– Design and adaptability for Tablets: adapt to the screen size corresponding to Tablets for the correct visualization of the exercises.

– Data recording: evaluate which data to collect from each exercise for storage in the database.

– Creation of the platform: create an online platform that can be used by registered and unregistered users.