Environmental support for people with dementia of the Alzheimer's type (DAT) (August 2004)
Group or Institution
University of Waikato
Author(s)
Ming-Yun Hsieh
Abstract
The negative mood observed in people with dementia of the Alzheimer’s type may be linked with their limited success in daily activities. However, with appropriate environmental support, they may be able to function relatively independently in tasks relying on preserved skills.
The study investigated the effects of environmental adaptations that aimed to build on participants’ preserved skills and reduce the impact of their cognitive deficits on certain activities and care-giving burden. The SITE model from human factors research which considers the situation, individual, task and effect of the interaction between a person and their environment was applied to realise the delivery and evaluation of the intervention.
The results were evaluated using pre- and post-measures of care-giving burden, depression, and task analysis. The preliminary findings suggest that participants enjoyed being involved in the design of the interventions and their caregivers would recommend the idea of environmental support to other caregivers.