Everyday Action in Dementia: Problems and Solutions
Individuals with dementia experience difficulties performing everyday tasks, such as meal preparation and grooming. However, the nature of everyday action difficulties remains poorly understood, and non-pharmacologic interventions have not been carefully evaluated. This presentation will review a series of studies that support the resource theory of everyday action impairment, proposed by Schwartz and colleagues. Then, a novel “user-centered” intervention, which was based, in part, on the resource theory, will be described, and it’s efficacy for improving everyday action performance in individuals with Alzheimer’s disease will be demonstrated. Finally, new findings that expand the resource theory will be presented. These new data will be discussed in terms of their relevance for developing effective interventions for individuals with dementia.