MySearch: Purposeful Individual and Independent Activities for Persons with Early to Moderate Stage Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias

DESCRIPTION provided by applicant In the United States today million people are living with Alzheimerandapos s disease AD Alzheimerandapos s Association With increased diagnostic accuracy for detecting AD early stage cases of AD are rapidly growing These individuals especially when placed in residential care settings can present significant behavioral challenges to staff members and other residents Because extensive resources are required to address problematic behaviors associated with dementia new approaches interventions and treatments are needed to prevent or reduce the occurrence of these behaviors Camp Cohen Mansfield andamp Capezuti Current research further emphasizes the importance of developing approaches aimed at maximizing quality of life by providing opportunities for persons with dementia to engage in purposeful goal oriented activities Cohen Mansfield Mak Taking part in a purposeful activity can help reduce agitation boredom loneliness and depression Cohen Mansfield The shared residential environment however often stifles rather than encourages purposeful activity Brush et al Cohen Mansfield For example many residential communities for persons with dementia provide special areas that display items intended to provide reminiscence and engagement for residents with dementia Examples include andquot fiddle boxesandquot for tinkering dolls non functional sewing paraphernalia non functional rotary phones old manual typewriters etc In reality these environmental features primarily serve as points of interest for family members to view when touring a residence rather than serving the needs of residents To address these issues a new product MySearch tm will be created through an iterative prototype development and testing process The initial MySearch tm prototype kit will contain four new activities with the following properties Self directed Self paced Focuses and builds on skills strengths Portable Expandable Sharable Gender neutral Use of templates that can be replicated easily Individualized content which can be expanded Age appropriate Purposeful Produces a creative work Can be used independently or with minimal staff assistance needed by residents at any time This research and development study will involve gathering data in four long term care communities in the greater Cleveland Ohio area At each community older adult residents will take part n N The MySearch tm kit will be developed in two versions alpha and beta The alpha version will be created and initially tested in the first months of the study Feedback from this alpha version test will be incorporated into a revised beta version to be tested in the last months of the study The goal is to create four activities that will meet specific criteria necessay to commercialize MySearch tm successfully If successful MySearch tm will provide a unique and much needed activity choice for those seeking a purposeful alternative to other commercial activity products for persons with Alzheimerandapos s disease PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE In the United States today million people are living with Alzheimerandapos s disease AD There is a severe lack of acceptable self directed activity choices for persons with AD living in residential care settings especially for persons in early to middle stages of dementia resulting in challenging behaviors exhibited by these residents If successful this project would provide a new activity alternative for persons in early to middle stages of Alzheimerandapos s disease enabling them to have a better quality of life while concurrently reducing their challenging behaviors