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. 2021 Jan 14:11:623933.
doi: 10.3389/fneur.2020.623933. eCollection 2020.

Cognitive Telerehabilitation for Older Adults With Neurodegenerative Diseases in the COVID-19 Era: A Perspective Study

Sara Bernini  1 , Fabrizio Stasolla  2 , Silvia Panzarasa  3 , Silvana Quaglini  3 , Elena Sinforiani  1 , Giorgio Sandrini  1   4 , Tomaso Vecchi  1   4 , Cristina Tassorelli  1   4 , Sara Bottiroli  1   2
Affiliations

Cognitive Telerehabilitation for Older Adults With Neurodegenerative Diseases in the COVID-19 Era: A Perspective Study

Sara Bernini et al. Front Neurol. .

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic is a global health problem that is radically transforming public and private healthcare organizations around the world, negatively affecting the rehabilitative treatments of non-COVID pathologies as well. In this situation, it becomes crucial to be able to guarantee the continuity of care also to all those patients with neurodegenerative diseases unable to reach healthcare services. Remote communication technologies are gaining momentum as potentially effective options to support health care interventions-including cognitive rehabilitation-while patients can stay safely at home. In this context, we are implementing HomeCoRe (i.e., Home Cognitive Rehabilitation software) in order to offer an innovative approach and a valid support for home-based cognitive rehabilitation in neurodegenerative diseases, such as mild cognitive impairment and early dementia. HomeCoRe has been developed within a research project between engineers and clinicians in order to obtain a usable and safe cognitive rehabilitation tool. This software has multiple advantages for patients and therapists over traditional approaches, as shown in its use in hospital settings. HomeCoRe could then represent an opportunity for accessing cognitive rehabilitation in all those situations where patients and therapists are not in the same location due to particular restrictions, such as COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic; cognitive impairment; cognitive rehabilitation; cognitive training; information and communication technologies; neurodegenerative diseases; telemedicine; telerehabilitation.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Therapist interface for monitoring results and patient performance in terms of overall Weighted Score (left) and patient interface for the execution of the memory exercise (right).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Home page of the therapist-side of the interface for setting the requirements for the exercise plan (left) and home page of the patient/caregiver-side of the interface (right).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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