01 December 2025
University of Deusto
The University of Deusto, together with the Provincial Council of Biscay, is promoting the “BEGIRALEAK” project in a context where population ageing poses significant social and healthcare challenges. The project is led by Dr. Olaia Lucas Jiménez and Dr. Agurne Sampedro Calvete from the Neurolab team at the University of Deusto. It also includes the participation of pre-doctoral researcher Marta Gil Cabrero.
It is becoming increasingly common for people over 65 to need support in their daily lives, and for family members or other people close to them to take on the role of caregivers and informal carers. This work often entails a physical and emotional burden that directly affects their quality of life and their relationship with the people they care for. Within this framework, the project aims to address these two realities, combining research and implementation of the results obtained in the form of preventive strategies applicable to care settings.
For this purpose, a comprehensive assessmentis carried out, combining neuropsychological measures, such as memory and attention capacity, with psychoaffective measures, such as fatigue or sleep quality. In addition, the project stands out for its innovative approach to assessment techniques, as the neuropsychological measures include analysis of accelerated long-term forgetting, a memory function impairment that appears in the early stages of cognitive decline. This variable is measured using the VALMTtest, an innovative tool notable for its digital format and for its specificity and sensitivity in detecting this memory impairment. To this end, we are working on its validation in Spanish in collaboration with its creators at the University of London. Another key aspect is the evaluation of biomarkers through blood and urine analysis, which, together with the neuropsychological and psychological measures, aims to provide a more precise and multidimensional understanding of the factors influencing their quality of life. For this analysis, we are collaborating with the CIC bioGUNEcooperative research centre, which has a long track record in bioscience research.
The project also includes a three-month intervention of cognitive rehabilitation , mainly focused on social cognition. It is based on the REHACOG programme, developed by the same team and whose effectiveness has been demonstrated in different populations. The study aims to assess the effectiveness of this intervention on cognitive performance, physiological outcomes, and quality of life, both for older people in situations of dependency and for their informal carers.
The "BEGIRALEAK" project is funded by the Provincial Council of Biscay and collaborates with several centres from the etxeTIC network, which are leading and innovative in the use of new technologies to support older people in situations of dependency to remain at home and to ensure the continuity of care provided by their informal carers. This allows the results of the study to be applied directly in care settings, with the aim of improving the quality of life of these people.
