Performance of People with Dementia on the Occupational Therapy Adult Perceptual Screening Test (OT-APST)

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the use of the Occupational Therapy Adult Perceptual Screening Test (OT-APST) as a screening tool of visual perception among people with dementia. The study compared the performance of twenty-five people with dementia with a normative sample of 150 people on the OT-APST. The dementia sample was found to perform significantly worse than the normative sample on all subscales of the OT-APST. Fair to moderate correlations were found between performance on each of the OT-APST subscales and dementia severity. The OT-APST may be useful in determining areas of difficulty and strength, allowing for more effective, individualised care for people with dementia. Results should be interpreted cautiously however given the demonstrated impact of declining cognitive skills on OT-APST performance in people with dementia.

KEYWORDS:

• OT-APST
• visual-perception
• dementia
• apraxia

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Deirdre M. Cooke

Jennifer R. Johnson was a graduate student in the School of Occupational Therapy, Texas Woman's University, Houston, TX at the time of this study. She is currently employed as an Occupational Therapist at Touro Infirmary in New Orleans, LA

Debra Stewart is Lecturer, School of Rehabilitation Science, McMaster University and staff therapist at Erinoak Centre, Missis-sauga, Ontario. She is currently completing a MSc (Design, Measurement and Evaluation) at McMaster University.

Ronald L. Mace (deceased, June 29, 1998) was also affiliated with The Center for Universal Design, School of Design, North Carolina University.

Lois Rosage and Geraldine Shaw are Occupational Therapist Consultants who provide evaluations for the housing programs at the Philadelphia Corporation for Aging.

Debbie Rand is Occupational Therapist, Beit Rivka Geriatric Rehabilitation Hospital, Petach Tikva, Israel. She completed this study in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Science degree in Occupational Therapy, School of Occupational Therapy, Faculty of Medicine, Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Her mailing address is 50 Heh B'Eyar Street, Apartment 5, Rosh Ha'Ayin, Israel, 48056.

Maureen McKenna is a Licensed Physical Therapist and Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in California. Her Current position is: Assistant Professor of Physical Therapy, Wheeling Jesuit University, 316 Washington Avenue, Wheeling, WV 26003.

Heather Lambert was funded in part by a Health Canada NHRDP Fellowship, a REPAR Fellowship, a doctoral bursary from the Fonds de la Recherche en Santé du Quebec, and a Canadian Occupational Therapy Foundation-Royal Canadian Legion Fellowship in Gerontology.

Trish Wielandt was supported by a University of Queensland Postgraduate Research Scholarship (UQPRS).

Dr. Leigh Tooth was supported by a NHMRC Fellowship (#997032) while some of this research was undertaken.

J. D. “Herb” Herbert is Occupational Therapist, Rocky Mountain Menders LLC, 363 Pioneer Road, Lyons, CO 80540. At the time of this study, he was a graduate student, Department of Occupational Therapy, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO.