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Objectives: The proportion of elderly people living in institutions has increased in Sri Lanka during the recent decades a result of population aging and ongoing sociocultural changes. Cognitive functions that are important for goal directed behavior will be increasingly important for independent living. Inhibitory control of irrelevant information (IC) is such cognitive process vital for this. Hence this study was conducted to assess the level of inhibitory control and associated factors among elderly people living in elderly care institution in Galle district.
Methods: Study was conducted in 190 elderly people living in institutions who are physically independent with Barthel’s index score of more than 90. IC was assessed via computerization stoop inhibitory task. Number of errors was calculated to asses the level of inhibitory control. Group differences were assessed through independent sample test and significant level was kept at
Results: the sample comprised of 69.5% (n=132) females with a mean age of 71.78 years (+6.5) . Mean number of error of the stroop tasks was 8.88(+3.99). The number of error in the stroop inhibitory task was significantly lower among females (n=132,p<0.001) who had above secondary education (n=33,p<0.05), who engaged in group (n+153, p<0.05) and leisure time activates (n=173, , p<0.05) and who were younger than 70 years of age (n=78, , p<0.01).
Conclusions: IC was significantly associate with age ,educational studies ,gender ,engagement in group and leisure time activates among the study sample.
