Assistive technologies to address capabilities of people with dementia: from research to practice

Assistive technologies (AT) became pervasive and virtually present in all our life domains. They can be either an enabler or an obstacle leading to social exclusion. The Fondation Médéric Alzheimer gathered international experts of dementia care, with backgrounds in biomedical, human and social sciences, to analyse how AT can address the capabilities of people with dementia, on the basis of their needs. Discussion covered the unmet needs of people with dementia, the domains of daily life activities where AT can provide help to people with dementia, the enabling and empowering impact of technology to improve their safety and wellbeing, barriers and limits of use, technology assessment, ethical and legal issues. The capability approach (possible freedom) appears particularly relevant in person-centered dementia care and technology development. The focus is not on the solution, rather on what the person can do with it: seeing dementia as disability, with technology as an enabler to promote capabilities of the person, provides a useful framework for both research and practice. This article summarizes how these concepts took momentum in professional practice and public policies in the past fifteen years (2000-2015), discusses current issues in the design, development and economic model of AT for people with dementia, and covers how these technologies are being used and assessed

Episodic Memory in Detoxified Alcoholics: Contribution of Grey Matter Microstructure Alteration

Even though uncomplicated alcoholics may likely have episodic memory deficits, discrepancies exist regarding to the integrity of brain regions that underlie this function in healthy subjects. Possible relationships between episodic memory and 1) brain microstructure assessed by magnetic resonance diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), 2) brain volumes assessed by voxel-based morphometry (VBM) were investigated in uncomplicated, detoxified alcoholics

Aspect neurologique et cognitif de l'apraxie des membres supérieurs dans la démence de type Alzheimer

info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublishe

Route learning in amnesia: A comparison of trial-and-error and errorless learning in patients with the Korsakoff syndrome

Item does not contain fulltextOBJECTIVE: To examine the errorless learning approach using a procedural memory task (i.e. learning of actual routes) in patients with amnesia, as compared to trial-and-error learning. DESIGN: Counterbalanced self-controlled cases series. SETTING: Psychiatric hospital (Korsakoff clinic). SUBJECTS: A convenience sample of 10 patients with the Korsakoff amnestic syndrome. INTERVENTION: All patients learned a route in four sessions on separate days using an errorless approach and a different route using trial-and-error. MAIN MEASURES: Error rate was scored during route learning and standard neuro-psychological tests were administered (i.e. subtest route recall of the Rivermead Behavioural Memory Test (RBMT) and the Dutch version of the California Verbal Learning Test (VLGT)). RESULTS: A significant learning effect was found in the trial-and-error condition over consecutive sessions (P = 0.006), but no performance difference was found between errorless and trial-and-error learning of the routes. VLGT performance was significantly correlated with a trial-and-error advantage (P < 0.05); no significant correlation was found between the RBMT subtest and the learning conditions. CONCLUSION: Errorless learning was no more successful than trial-and-error learning of a procedural spatial task in patients with the Korsakoff syndrome (severe amnesia).7 p

Profinteg: a tool for real-life assessment of activities of daily living in patients with cognitive impairment

Although there are many instruments for assessing activities of daily living (IADL) in brain injured patients, few instruments specifically target cognitive impairment and its impact on IADL. The present study presents the development of the Profinteg instrument, a tool for real-life assessment as well as rehabilitation of IADL in patients with cognitive impairment. This two-stage instrument covers over 90 activities. Psychometric properties of the different Profinteg measures were explored in twenty-five patients with mild to severe cognitive difficulties and twenty-five caregivers. The feasibility of the Profinteg rehabilitation procedure was explored in three patients. Excellent interrater reliability (r > 0.90,p < 0.01) was observed for all measures. Good sensitivity to changes in IADL disability over time was also observed (T= 2.37,p < 0.02). Significant improvement of IADL functioning was found after rehabilitation guided by Profinteg assessment. The Profinteg instrument detects with precision the difficulties patients encounter in their real-life setting via (I) assessment of a large number of activities and (2) detailed decomposition of activities into sub-activities. The Profinteg tool also provides promising results for guidance of IADL rehabilitation in the patient's real-life environment