Abstract

ESTEVES, Cristiane Silva; OLIVEIRA, Camila Rosa de; IRIGARAY, Tatiana Quarti  and  ARGIMON, Irani Iracema de Lima. Elderly performance with and without depressive symptoms on the WCST-64. Aval. psicol. [online]. 2016, vol.15, n.1, pp. 31-39. ISSN 1677-0471.

It is natural that the elderly would present difficulties in executive functions even in the early stages of a depressive condition, which may be detected by the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). This study aimed to compare the performance of elderly people with and without depressive symptoms on the shortened version of the WCST, containing 64 cards (WCST-64). The sample consisted of 153 elderly subjects who were divided into two groups: with and without depressive symptoms. The groups were matched in terms of age, educational level and score on the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE). A Socio-Demographic Data Sheet, the Geriatric Depression Scale, MMSE and the WCST-64 were used. It was observed that, to the extent that depressive symptoms intensified, total errors, perseverative responses and perseverative errors increased on the WCST-64. The results showed that elderly people who present depressive symptoms had poorer performance on the WCST-64, compared to those without depressive symptoms

Keywords : depression; elderly people; aging; Wisconsin Card Sorting Test; executive function.

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