title: A computer-aided program for helping patients with moderate Alzheimer's disease engage in verbal reminiscence.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: University of Bari, Italy. Electronic address: giulio.lancioni@uniba.it.
authors.forename: Giulio E
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Lancioni
authors.affiliation: Medical College of Georgia, Georgia Regents University, Augusta, USA.
authors.forename: Nirbhay N
authors.initials: NN
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.affiliation: University of Texas at Austin, USA.
authors.forename: Mark F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: O'Reilly
authors.affiliation: Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Jeff
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sigafoos
authors.affiliation: Lega F. D'Oro Research Center, Osimo, Italy.
authors.forename: Gabriele
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ferlisi
authors.affiliation: Lega F. D'Oro Research Center, Osimo, Italy.
authors.forename: Valeria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Zullo
authors.affiliation: S. Raffaele Medical Care Center, Modugno, Italy.
authors.forename: Simona
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Schirone
authors.affiliation: S. Raffaele Medical Care Center, Modugno, Italy.
authors.forename: Raffaella
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Prisco
authors.affiliation: ISPE Medical Care Center, Mola di Bari, Italy.
authors.forename: Floriana
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Denitto
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D011939:Mental Recall; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013060:Speech; D013813:Therapy, Computer-Assisted
keywords: Alzheimer's disease; Computer-aided program; Reminiscence