Computerized Personal Interventions for Alzheimer's Patients

Reminiscence therapy and cognitive training are two of the most common non-pharmacological therapies used to treat AD. To date, there is no clear evidence regarding the impact of these treatments on the cognitive function of people with AD. The inconclusive evidence may be due to methodological limitations, the availability of a limited number of controlled studies, the lack of standardized interventions and the need for sensitive assessment tools.

Increasingly, computerized systems are being designed to support both the cognitive assessment of patients with Alzheimer's disease and the administration of novel non-pharmacological interventions. Studies suggest that such systems may be of clear benefit. For example, in an initial study involving patients with AD, computerized cognitive training systems have been shown to be of value in providing a more standardized approach to cognitive training. Also, another study found that the use of a computerized system for reminiscence therapy was successful in facilitating patient-caregiver interaction.

Our research is a collaborative effort designed to test the effects of two such computer-supported interventions in patients with mild AD. The purpose of the research is to compare the efficacy of personalized computerized reminiscence therapy and that of computerized cognitive training to a control group. The reminiscence therapy program is based on developing an internet-based personalized reminiscence system, which will facilitate flexible interactive use by patients and caregivers. The importance of a personalized system is especially salient in immigrant, or in highly mobile, societies due to the heterogeneous background of the patients.

Separate preliminary studies have found positive effects of each system. The research will use various measures to evaluate the efficacy of both treatments, including the Mindstreams (NeuroTrax Corp., NJ) computerized neuropsychological assessment instrument, which will serve as the cognitive outcome measure.