Self-help memory intervention: analysis on specific and transfer effects in community dwelling and rest-home resident older adults

The present research is aimed to investigate the effects of a self-help training approach in producing memory improvements and transfer effects in community dwelling and rest-home resident older adults. Given the success of our previous memory training focused on teaching older adults about basic principles of memory and how to use them to adapt strategies to any given memory task (Bottiroli et al., 2013), we decided to evaluate its efficacy in a self-help training version. In this intervention participants were instructed to use a manual to learn metacognitive principles and two memory strategies. Two studies were realized in order to evaluate the efficacy of this approach in older adults being community dwelling (Study 1) or living in rest homes (Study 2). Participants in both studies were evaluated in a series of memory tasks, which were trained (with practice), analysed (only instructions on how to use the strategies on new material, without practice) and transfer. In both studies, results showed improvements not only in the trained tasks, but also in those analyzed and, most important, in those used in order to evaluate transfer effects. Such findings provides evidence of the efficacy of a self-help approach in both populations of older adults.