Kolanowski, Ann M., Fick, Donna M., Clare, Linda, Steis, Melinda, Boustani, Malaz, Litaker, Mark

Delirium is a common neuropsychiatric syndrome that occurs most frequently in older adults with dementia and is referred to as delirium superimposed on dementia (DSD). Our aim in this pilot project was to demonstrate that implementation of cognitively stimulating activities is clinically feasible and has potential to reduce delirium severity and duration and functional loss […]

Tappen, Ruth M., Williams, Christine L.

Few studies have tested strategies to address the mental health needs of individuals with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). To test a newly developed, empirically based modified counseling approach, 30 nursing home residents with AD were randomly assigned to a modified counseling (Therapeutic Conversation) treatment group or usual care control group. Mini-Mental State Examination mean scores were […]

Ott, Carol H., Kelber, Sheryl T., Blaylock, Michele

A multicomponent intervention targeting grief symptoms in spouse caregivers of individuals with dementia was pilot tested in this feasibility study. Twenty spouse caregivers completed the study within the 5-month protocol. The five-component intervention, deduced from Meuser, Marwit, and Sanders’ Dementia Caregiver Grief Model and tailored to participants’ grief, mental health, and learning needs, included supportive […]

Hill, Nikki L., Kolanowski, Ann M., Fick, Donna, Chinchilli, Vernon M., Jablonski, Rita A.

This exploratory study examined the moderating effects of personality traits on cognitive function following a cognitively stimulating individualized activity intervention delivered to individuals at high risk for cognitive decline: those with delirium superimposed on dementia. Data were taken from an ongoing randomized clinical trial with the addition of a personality measure. The results for 71 […]