Reading Holy Qur’an to Improve Verbal Fluency in Elderly

Siti Munawaroh, Yunia Hastami, Adji Suwandono, Hartono Hartono, Ari Natalia Probandari, Fitriana Herawati, Ummu Ma’rifatul Afifah, Aldira Ayu Nastiti Nur Hanifah

Abstract


The high prevalence of dementia that impairs verbal fluency has been a global source of concern. As a result, strategies for preserving or improving verbal fluency in the elderly are required. A neuroplasticity-based reading program has been shown to improve verbal fluency. This study aims to ascertain whether reading the Holy Qur'an has an effect on an older adult's ability to communicate fluently. It is an experimental study with a quasi-experimental design with pretest-posttest control groups. This study sampled 22 elderly individuals with the following criteria: age greater than 60 years, ability to speak and read the Holy Qur'an, a Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score greater than 24, absence of psychiatric disorders, absence of head trauma, and absence of neurological disease. The intervention group read the Quran for two weeks, while the control group did not. Both groups were measured for Verbal fluency at the beginning and after the intervention. There were significant differences in post-test phonemic scores between the control group (CG) and the intervention group (IG) (p=0.019). Meanwhile, there was no significant difference in semantic score in all groups (p>0.852). Reading the Holy Qur’an activity intervention for two weeks affected verbal fluency in the elderly by increasing phonemic but not semantic scores.


Keywords


dementia; elderly; holy Quran; reading; neuroplasticity; verbal fluency

Full Text:

PDF

References


World Health Organization. The top 10 causes of death [Internet]. 2020 Dec. Available from: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/the-top-10-causes-of-death

Alzheimer’s Disease International, Guerchet M, Prince M. Numbers of people with dementia around the world [Internet]. 2020 Nov. Available from: https://www.alzint.org/resource/numbers-of-people-with-dementia-worldwide/

Alzheimer’s Indonesia. Statistik tentang Demensia - Alzheimer Indonesia. 2019 Apr. Available from: https://alzi.or.id/statistik-tentang-demensia/

Stern C, Munn Z. Cognitive leisure activities and their role in preventing dementia: a systematic review. International Journal of Evidence-based Healthcare. 2010 (8): 2–17. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-1609.2010.00150.x

World Health Organization. Risk Reduction of Cognitive Decline And Dementia. Who. 2019. 96 p.

Kane RL, Butler M, Fink HA. Interventions to Prevent Age-Related Cognitive Decline, Mild Cognitive Impairment, and Clinical Alzheimer’s-Type Dementia. Comp Eff Rev [Internet]. 2017;188(188):86–91. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK442425/

Partanen M, Siegel LS, Giaschi DE. Effect of reading intervention and task difficulty on orthographic and phonological reading systems in the brain. Neuropsychologia. 2019 Jul;130:13–25. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2018.07.018

Indrijaningrum PST, Hamdan M. Correlation Between Frequency and Duration on Reading The Qur’an with Cognitive Function at Elderly. Int J Psychosoc Rehabil. 2020 Feb;24(02):4062–71. https://doi.org/10.37200/IJPR/V24I2/PR200727

Nayef EG, Wahab MNA. The Effect of Recitation of Quran on the Human Emotions. Int J Acad Res Bus Soc Sci. 2018 Mar;8(2). https://doi.org/10.6007/IJARBSS/v8-i2/3852

Houston SM, Lebel C, Katzir T, Manis FR, Kan E, Rodriguez GG, et al. Reading skill and structural brain development. Neuroreport. 2014 Mar;25(5):347–52. https://doi.org/10.1097/WNR.0000000000000121

Bavishi A, Slade MD, Levy BR. A chapter a day: Association of book reading with longevity. Soc Sci Med. 2016 Sep;164:44–8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.07.014

Opasso PR, Barreto SDS, Ortiz KZ. Phonemic verbal fluency task in adults with high-level literacy. Einstein (Sao Paulo). 2016;14(3):398–402. https://doi.org/10.1590/S1679-45082016AO3629

Pereira AH, Gonçalves AB, Holz M, Gonçalves HA, Kochhann R, Joanette Y, et al. Influence of age and education on the processing of clustering and switching in verbal fluency tasks. Dement e Neuropsychol. 2018 Jan;12(4):360–7. https://doi.org/10.1590/1980-57642018dn12-040004

Gordon JK, Young M, Garcia C. Why do older adults have difficulty with semantic fluency? Aging, Neuropsychol Cogn. 2018 Sep;25(6):803–28. https://doi.org/10.1080/13825585.2017.1374328

Zimmermann N, de Mattos Pimenta Parente MA, Joanette Y, Fonseca RP. Unconstrained, phonemic and semantic verbal fluency: Age and education effects, norms and discrepancies. Psicol Reflex e Crit. 2014;27(1):55–63. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0102-79722014000100007

Buchweitz A, Mason RA, Tomitch LMB, Just MA. Brain activation for reading and listening comprehension: An fMRI study of modality effects and individual differences in language comprehension. Psychol Neurosci. 2009;2(2):111–23. https://doi.org/10.3922/j.psns.2009.2.003

Waldie KE, Haigh CE, Badzakova-Trajkov G, Buckley J, Kirk IJ. Reading the wrong way with the right hemisphere. Brain Sci. 2013;3(3):1060–75. https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci3031060

Ramanoël S, Hoyau E, Kauffmann L, Renard F, Pichat C, Boudiaf N, et al. Gray matter volume and cognitive performance during normal aging. A voxel-based morphometry study. Front Aging Neurosci. 2018 Aug;10(AUG). https://doi.org/10.3389/fnagi.2018.00235

Sörman DE, Ljungberg JK, Rönnlund M. Reading Habits Among Older Adults in Relation to Level and 15-Year Changes in Verbal Fluency and Episodic Recall. Front Psychol. 2018 Sep;9(SEP). https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01872

Herawati F, Wiyono N, Munawaroh S, Hastami Y. The Effect of Reading Activity on Verbal Fluency in Older Adults. 2021;11(1):34–9.

Paek EJ, Murray LL, Newman SD. Neural Correlates of Verb Fluency Performance in Cognitively Healthy Older Adults and Individuals With Dementia: A Pilot fMRI Study. Front Aging Neurosci. 2020 Mar;12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnagi.2020.00073

Cheng ST. Cognitive Reserve and the Prevention of Dementia: the Role of Physical and Cognitive Activities. Current Psychiatry Reports. Current Medicine Group LLC 1 (18); 2016. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-016-0721-2

Shao Z, Janse E, Visser K, Meyer AS. What do verbal fluency tasks measure? Predictors of verbal fluency performance in older adults. Front Psychol. 2014;5(JUL). https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00772

Bertola L, Mota NB, Copelli M, Rivero T, Diniz BS, Ribeiro MARS, et al. Graph analysis of verbal fluency test discriminate between patients with Alzheimer’s disease, Mild Cognitive Impairment and normal elderly controls. Front Aging Neurosci. 2014;6(JUL). https://doi.org/10.3389/fnagi.2014.00185

Moran TP. Anxiety and working memory capacity: A meta-analysis and narrative review. Psychol Bull. 2016;142(8):831–64. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000051

Lukasik KM, Waris O, Soveri A, Lehtonen M, Laine M. The relationship of anxiety and stress with working memory performance in a large non-depressed sample. Front Psychol. 2019;10.4. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00004

Septadina IS, Sutysna H. Holy Qur’an Recitation to Overcome Anxiety. Int J Islam Med. 2020;1(1):31–6. https://doi.org/10.37275/ijim.v1i1.4

Toazza R, Salum GA, Jarros RB, DeSousa D, de Salles JF, Manfro GG. Phonemic verbal fluency and severity of anxiety disorders in young children. Trends Psychiatry Psychother. 2016;38(2):100–4. https://doi.org/10.1590/2237-6089-2016-0018

Toazza R, Salum GA, Flores SM, Jarros RB, Pine DS, De Salles JF, et al. Phonemic verbal fluency is associated with pediatric anxiety disorders: Evidence from a community study. J Child Adolesc Psychopharmacol. 2014;24(3):149–57. https://doi.org/10.1089/cap.2013.0086




DOI: https://doi.org/10.18196/mmjkk.v23i1.15160

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

      

Editorial Office:
Journal Room, G1 (Biomedic) Building, Ground Floor, Faculty of Medicine and Health Science Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta, 
Jalan Lingkar Selatan (Brawijaya), Tamantirto, Kasihan, Bantul, Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Phone: +62 274 387 656 (ext: 231)
WA : +62 811-2650-303
Website: http://journal.umy.ac.id/index.php/mm 
E-mail: mmjkk@umy.university

Creative Commons License
Mutiara Medika: Jurnal Kedokteran dan Kesehatan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. View My Stats