Response time and health care learning of elderly patients

The purpose of this study was to determine if elderly patients perform better in health care learning when provided slower or self-paced response conditions. The sample consisted of 105 institutionalized elderly people randomly assigned to three response groups: fast-paced, slow-paced, and self-paced. After nutrition instruction, learning performances of each of the three groups were measured. Learning performances under the fast- and slow-paced conditions did not differ; learning performances under the self-paced condition was superior to the two experimenter-paced conditions. Findings of this study document that a self-paced response condition is advantageous for elderly patients.