Use of environmental manipulation and classroom and modified informal reality orientation with institutionalized,...

The effectiveness of 'classroom' reality orientation (CRO) for confused elderly subjects was evaluated. Experimental groups 1 and 2 (each consisting of five subjects) received CRO for 1 month with only group 1 continuing with maintenance CRO for a further 2 months. Both experimental groups and the control group (10 subjects) received modified informal reality orientation (IRO) and environmental manipulation (EM) for all 3 months. All subjects were assessed prior to the start of the study and after 4 and 12 weeks of treatment on cognitive and behavioural measures. Both experimental groups showed significant improvement on both cognitive and behavioural measures after 1 month compared with the controls. This improvement was maintained at 12 weeks for both experimental groups but there was a statistically significant difference only between group 1 and its matched controls.