Helping persons with mild or moderate Alzheimer's disease recapture basic daily activities through the use of an instruction strategy

Abstract

Purpose. The present three pilot studies assessed the effectiveness of verbal instructions, presented automatically through simple technology, in helping persons with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's disease recapture basic daily activities. The activities were morning bathroom routine, dressing, and table-setting.

Method. The studies that focused on morning bathroom routine and on table-setting included three participants each, while the study that focused on dressing involved four participants. A non-concurrent multiple baseline design across participants was used for each study. The instructions and technology were available only during the intervention phases.

Results. Data showed that the intervention strategy involving verbal instructions for the single activity steps presented automatically through technology was effective in helping all participants on each of the activities. The participants' mean percentages of correct steps across activities raised from 13 – 54 during the baseline periods to above 80 or 90 during the intervention periods.

Conclusions. The results suggest that the intervention strategy reported may represent a suitable approach for helping persons with mild or moderate Alzheimer's disease to recapture basic daily activities. New research should target other activities and check maintenance and generalization issues.

Keywords:

• Alzheimer's disease
• daily activities
• verbal instructions
• support technology