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 replicated Bourgeois' intervention with five people with severe dementia (Mini-Mental 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 participants spent on topic in conversation with carers. For three participants, 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.