title: Helping persons with mild or moderate Alzheimer's disease recapture basic daily activities through the use of an instruction strategy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  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.
  
  
  METHODS
  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.
authors.affiliation: University of Bari, Bari, Italy. g.lancioni@psico.uniba.it
authors.forename: Giulio E
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Lancioni
authors.forename: Katia
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Pinto
authors.forename: Maria L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: La Martire
authors.forename: Alessia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tota
authors.forename: Valeria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Rigante
authors.forename: Emanuela
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Tatulli
authors.forename: Elisabetta
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pansini
authors.forename: Mauro G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Minervini
authors.forename: Nirbhay N
authors.initials: NN
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.forename: Mark F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: O'Reilly
authors.forename: Jeff
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sigafoos
authors.forename: Doretta
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Oliva
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008838:Microcomputers; D010865:Pilot Projects; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D016896:Treatment Outcome