A computer-aided program for helping patients with moderate Alzheimer's disease engage in verbal reminiscence

•The study assessed a computer-aided program for promoting verbal reminiscence.•The computer screen showed a female asking relevant questions and giving attention and guidance.•Eight patients with moderate Alzheimer's disease were involved in the program.•Seven patients showed clear increases i...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Research in developmental disabilities 2014-11, Vol.35 (11), p.3026-3033
Main Authors: Lancioni, Giulio E., Singh, Nirbhay N., O’Reilly, Mark F., Sigafoos, Jeff, Ferlisi, Gabriele, Zullo, Valeria, Schirone, Simona, Prisco, Raffaella, Denitto, Floriana
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Alzheimer Disease - rehabilitation
Alzheimer's disease
Computer-aided program
Female
Humans
Male
Memory
Mental Recall
Reminiscence
Severity of Illness Index
Speech
Therapy, Computer-Assisted
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Summary:•The study assessed a computer-aided program for promoting verbal reminiscence.•The computer screen showed a female asking relevant questions and giving attention and guidance.•Eight patients with moderate Alzheimer's disease were involved in the program.•Seven patients showed clear increases in verbal engagement/reminiscence during the program. This study assessed a simple computer-aided program for helping patients with moderate Alzheimer's disease engage in verbal reminiscence. In practice, the program was aimed at fostering the patient's verbal engagement on a number of life experiences/topics previously selected for him or her and introduced in the sessions through a friendly female, who appeared on the computer screen. The female asked the patient about the aforementioned experiences/topics, and provided him or her with positive attention, and possibly verbal guidance (i.e., prompts/encouragements). Eight patients were involved in the study, which was carried out according to non-concurrent multiple baseline designs across participants. Seven of them showed clear improvement during the intervention phase (i.e., with the program). Their mean percentages of intervals with verbal engagement/reminiscence ranged from close to zero to about 15 during the baseline and from above 50 to above 75 during the intervention. The results were discussed in relation to previous literature on reminiscence therapy, with specific emphasis on the need for (a) replication studies and (b) the development of new versions of the technology-aided program to improve its impact and reach a wider number of patients.
ISSN:0891-4222
1873-3379
DOI:10.1016/j.ridd.2014.07.047