Dissertation Information for Michelle S. BourgeoisNAME:
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SCHOOL: ADVISORS: COMMITTEE MEMBERS: MPACT Status: Incomplete - Inspected Title: Training caregivers to facilitate the generalization and maintenance of communicative behaviors in patients with Alzheimer's disease
Abstract: The effectiveness of teaching caregivers to train Alzheimer's Disease subjects to use a functional memory aid when conversing with familiar partners about specific topics was evaluated using a multiple baseline design across behaviors and topics. Subjects were trained to use a communication wallet when conversing about three topics sequentially, while generalization across topics and persons was assessed in daily probe sessions with the experimenter and twice weekly probes with a familiar conversational partner. Results indicated that all subjects learned to use the wallet when conversing with both conversational partners and that the quality of the conversational content changed as a function of wallet use. Subjects made significantly more statements of fact per topic and fewer ambiguous utterances after training. All subjects also demonstrated generalization of treatment to the use of novel, untrained statements in conversations with both partners. Treatment effects maintained at high levels, both while other topics were being trained and at the 3- and 6-week follow-up sessions. Although husbands and familiar conversational partners did not report many changes in subjects' conversational behavior over time, naive judges rated baseline and post-treatment conversational samples as significantly different on eight conversational dimensions . |
MPACT Scores for Michelle S. BourgeoisA = 0 Advisors and Advisees Graph |