The increase in life prospects calls for reflection about the issue of aging and underlines the importance of taking care of elderly persons fostering their well-being. In this context, cognitive flexibility plays a fundamental role for the nu-merous benefits it produces in the elderly. This study was aimed at testing the effectiveness of "Flexi-train − Cognitive flexibility empowerment program in ag-ing" training, addressed to healthy elderly people, comparing an experimental group involved in the empowering intervention with a control group. Results showed that in the post-test the experimental group achieved higher cognitive flexibility scores than the control group did. Furthermore, greater reflexive capac-ity and higher critical awareness was observed in the first as compared to the second group. Findings support the notion that the training is effective in stimu-lating cognitive strategies and prompting reflection about the mental functioning in elder people to enable them to face everyday-life situations.
Keywords: Active aging, cognitive flexibility, creativity, empowerment, well-being.
Sabrina Rago, Valentina Rita Andolfi, Alessandro Antonietti, Giuseppe Iannoccari, Nicoletta Porcu, Chiara Valenti, Empowering cognitive flexibility in aging: The effects of a training in "RICERCHE DI PSICOLOGIA " 2/2020, pp. 691-712, DOI:10.3280/RIP2020-002011