A grid for a precise analysis of daily activities

in Neuropsychological Rehabilitation (2010), 20

Assessment of daily living activities is essential in patients with Alzheimer's disease. Most current tools quantitatively assess overall ability but provide little qualitative information on individual ... [more ▼]

Assessment of daily living activities is essential in patients with Alzheimer's disease. Most current tools quantitatively assess overall ability but provide little qualitative information on individual difficulties. Only a few tools allow therapists to evaluate stereotyped activities and record different types of errors. We capitalised on the Kitchen Activity Assessment to design a widely applicable analysis grid that provides both qualitative and quantitative data on activity performance. A cooking activity was videotaped in 15 patients with dementia and assessed according to the different steps in the execution of the task. The evaluations obtained with our grid showed good correlations between raters, between versions of the grid and between sessions. Moreover, the degree of independence obtained with our analysis of the task correlated with the Kitchen Activity Assessment score and with a global score of cognitive functioning. We conclude that assessment of a daily living activity with this analysis grid is reproducible and relatively independent of the therapist, and thus provides quantitative and qualitative information useful for both evaluating and caring for demented patients. [less ▲]

Does cognitive impairment influence burden in caregivers of patients with Alzheimer’s disease?

in Journal of Alzheimer's Disease [=JAD] (2009), 17(1), 105-114

Alzheimer's disease is characterized by a progressive deterioration of various cognitive and behavioral abilities and it also has a health impact on the patients’ caregiver. Our aim was to determine the ... [more ▼]

Alzheimer's disease is characterized by a progressive deterioration of various cognitive and behavioral abilities and it also has a health impact on the patients’ caregiver. Our aim was to determine the patient (and to a lesser extent the caregiver’s) characteristics that contribute most to the caregiver burden. We used the baseline data from the ICTUS study, a European longitudinal cohort of patients with mild to moderate AD. Data from 1091 patients and their caregivers has been used for analysis. Three principal components analyses were performed on variables from the domains of cognition, neuropsychiatric symptoms and daily function using MMSE plus ADAS-Cog, NPI and IADL subscores respectively. These were followed by a stepwise logistic regression to identify patient characteristics which best predict caregiver burden. The regression model (R2 = 0.35, p < .001) shows that the best explanatory variables are (1) neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPI), (2) difficulties in the IADL, (3) time taken by caregiving, (4) demographic variables such as caregiver’s age and patient sex and (5) severity of cognitive impairment. In conclusion, our results demonstrate that although the strongest determinant of the caregiver burden is behavioral disturbance, the impact of the degree of cognitive impairment on burden is also significant. [less ▲]

Réadaptation cognitive d'activités de vie quotidienne dans la maladie d'Alzheimer

in Gérontologie et Société : Cahiers de la Fondation Nationale de Gérontologie (2009), 130

Compensating strategies for impaired episodic memory and time orientation in a patient with Alzheimer's disease

in Acta Neurologica Belgica (2005), 105(1), 30-38

A dedicated training program for teaching a patient with Alzheimer's disease to independently use an agenda is presented. This training capitalises on preserved cognitive abilities and incorporates ... [more ▼]

A dedicated training program for teaching a patient with Alzheimer's disease to independently use an agenda is presented. This training capitalises on preserved cognitive abilities and incorporates principles from learning theories. This case study reports the effective use of a memory book for daily life activities and of a digital clock for time reorientation. [less ▲]