title: Electronic organiser and Alzheimer's disease: fact or fiction?
abstract: Alzheimer's disease is a degenerative disease characterised by a progressive loss of cognitive functions and impairment of activities of daily living severe enough to interfere with normal functioning. To help persons with this disease perform a variety of activities, our research team developed AP@LZ, an electronic organiser specifically designed for them. Two participants with Alzheimer's disease learned how to use AP@LZ in their daily lives by following a structured learning method. After the learning phase, the participants were able to use AP@LZ efficiently and facilitate their day-to-day activities for several months, despite the steady progression of the disease. These results suggest that persons with Alzheimer's disease can learn to use new technologies to compensate for their everyday memory problems, which opens up new rehabilitation possibilities in dementia care.
authors.affiliation: a Research Center on Aging, Sherbrooke Geriatric University Institute , Université de Sherbrooke , Québec , Canada.
authors.forename: Hélène
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Imbeault
authors.forename: Nathalie
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bier
authors.forename: Hélène
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Pigot
authors.forename: Lise
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gagnon
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Marcotte
authors.forename: Tamas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fulop
authors.forename: Sylvain
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Giroux
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D003200:Computer User Training; D034201:Computers, Handheld; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male