Observational outcome measures to evaluate assistive
technology use by people with dementia
G. Singh1, K. Pichora-Fuller1, E. Rochon2, J.B. Orange3 and P. Spadafora4
1Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto,
Canada
2Toronto Rehabilitation Institute; Department of Speech-Language
Pathology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
3School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University
of Western Ontario, London, Canada
4Sheridan Elder Research Centre, Sheridan College Institute
of Technology and Advanced Learning, Oakville, Canada
We developed new outcome measures using naturalistic observation to evaluate
the effect
of interventions on the communication and social interaction of people
with dementia. The
participants attended a day program in a new facility designed for the
dual purposes of
providing respite care and conducting research on aging. The facility
includes three large
activity rooms, a greenhouse, and a kitchen with a dining area. Each room
is equipped with
a built-in camera and microphones mounted on the ceiling. A computerized
system records
automatically and continuously from the camera and microphone inputs set
at default
positions. Data can be stored for weeks, depending on digitization parameters
such as
sampling rate. The recordings can be used to document the occurrence of
behaviors and
paired behaviors of interest over extended periods of time. Alternatively,
the experimenter
can ‘drive’ the cameras and microphones to follow a particular
person or activity in a planned
session. Selected samples of interest can be downloaded for detailed analysis
including
lag-sequential analyses. First, we examined automatic recordings of daily
activities to
determine relevant behaviors in the repertoire of the clients with dementia
participating
in the regular activities of the day program. Next, we focused more closely
on discourse and
detailed analyses of communication behaviors during selected activities
(e.g. playing bingo).
We also recorded planned conversational encounters between different communication
partners and individual clients. These observations were used to develop
baselines against
which change due to intervention can be evaluated. The .rst intervention
was to use an FM
assistive listening device in small group activities with an activity
leader. The advantages of
behavioral observation over existing measures and their usefulness in
this application will
be discussed.
Paper presented
at Measuring Behavior 2005
, 5th International Conference on Methods and Techniques
in Behavioral Research, 30 August - 2 September 2005, Wageningen, The
Netherlands.
© 2005 Noldus
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