Effects of individualized memory aids on the conversation of persons with severe dementia: a pilot study

Bourgeois has shown that use of simple memory aids enhances the quality of conversation of persons with moderate Alzheimer-type dementia. We replicate d Bourgeois' intervention with five people with severe dementia (Mini-Menta l State Examination scores 0-4) and diagnoses of Alzheimer-type or vascular dementia, and evaluated the impact of the aids on the proportion of time p articipants spent on topic in conversation with carers. For three participa nts, use of the memory aid did not increase the proportion of time-spent on -topic. The remaining two participants, however, spent approximately twice as much time on-topic when using the aid as when conversing without it. Our results extend Bourgeois' work by showing that memory aids are helpful to some people with severe dementia.