Experiences of Active Everyday Life Among Persons with Prodromal Alzheimer's Disease: A Qualitative Study

Identifying strategies to prevent or delay cognitive decline among the rising numbers of elderly is acknowledged as a global public health priority. Research suggests that an active lifestyle in terms of participation in activities has the potential to reduce the risk of later-life cognitive decline. The concept of "active everyday life", however, needs to be further explored.

The study aimed to explore and describe the active everyday lives of persons with prodromal Alzheimer's disease (AD) in terms of quality of participation in activities and perceived restrictions.

This qualitative study was part of a larger project, the MIND-AD_MINI trial. Nine in-depth interviews were conducted with seven participants (2 males, 5 females; mean age of 72.3) at baseline before the intervention. The data were collected from January to October 2018 and analyzed using the grounded theory approach.

Four categories emerged from the analysis: (i) active body and mind; (ii) doing desired meaningful activities to feel engaged, contented, and satisfied; (iii) doing in the context of being connected to others; (iv) ability in making decisions and taking actions. From these categories, which presented the key elements of an active everyday life, a core category was identified: Living a complete life in flow.

The findings suggest key elements of participation quality that contribute to an active life. The identified elements are important to be considered in rehabilitation to provide opportunities and possibilities for participation to enable and improve the quality of participation among persons with cognitive impairments.