The proposed project is a three-year study in which older adults with dementia will be trained to deal with communication problems using an intervention known as Spaced-Retrieval (SR). SR involves practice at successfully remembering target information and/or performing target behaviors at successively longer time intervals. In a pilot study conducted at Menorah Park Center for the Aging in Beachwood, Ohio, speech pathologists implemented SR training trials during natural breaks in regular speech therapy sessions and clients achieved additional goals without increasing therapy time. The proposed study seeks to determine if the positive effects of SR observed previously can be replicated in a controlled efficacy study with a larger sample across different ethnic groups and settings. The project will involve two research teams in different geographic areas, and will include 48 clients with dementia in metropolitan Cleveland, Ohio, and another 48 clients in Tallahassee, Florida. As in the pilot study, the treatment group will participate in SR training in the course of regular speech therapy, while the control group will undergo standard speech therapy only.
Specific aims of the study are to assess the extent to which SR: 1 Increases treatment effectiveness for communication problems in persons with dementia during standard speech therapy sessions; 2) Results in qualitative improvement in therapy outcomes compared to standard therapy procedures; and 3) Enhances the maintenance and generalization of goals achieved during therapy. Participants will be assessed before therapy begins, and at posttest after one week and after four months. Treatment and control groups will be compared in terms of goal measures (e.g., number of therapy goals achieved, number of sessions required to reach therapy goals); process measures (e.g., number of sessions clients refuse to attend or to cooperate in, number of clients who terminate therapy prematurely); and, generalization measures (e.g., demonstration in real world contexts of abilities acquired in therapy, and their impact on clients' problem behaviors and quality of life. If implementing the SR intervention within the context of standard speech therapy sessions proves successful, additional therapeutic goals will be achieved without increasing length and costs, and the effectiveness of the SR intervention will be demonstrated across sites, therapists, and groups of persons with dementia.
| Bourgeois, Michelle S; Camp, Cameron; Rose, Miriam et al. (2003) A comparison of training strategies to enhance use of external aids by persons with dementia. J Commun Disord 36:361-78 |
| Camp, Cameron J; Cohen-Mansfield, Jiska; Capezuti, Elizabeth A (2002) Use of nonpharmacologic interventions among nursing home residents with dementia. Psychiatr Serv 53:1397-401 |
