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The effectiveness of the Hierarchic Dementia Scale in tailoring interventions to reduce problem behaviours in people with Alzheimer’s disease
Author(s) -
Paterson Janis,
Hamilton Mary Managh,
Grant Helen
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
australian occupational therapy journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.595
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 1440-1630
pISSN - 0045-0766
DOI - 10.1046/j.1440-1630.2000.00219.x
Subject(s) - dementia , observational study , psychological intervention , intervention (counseling) , psychology , scale (ratio) , disease , baseline (sea) , physical medicine and rehabilitation , gerontology , clinical psychology , physical therapy , medicine , psychiatry , oceanography , physics , pathology , quantum mechanics , geology
The aim of this single subject design study was to determine the effectiveness of using results from the Hierarchic Dementia Scale (HDS) to tailor interventions that may reduce behaviour problems in people with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The participant was diagnosed with AD and exhibited a specific problem behaviour defined as walking repeatedly around the rest home unit in which she resided with no apparent aim. Repeated observational measures of the time spent walking were taken to establish a baseline of the problem behaviour. Once the baseline was established, the HDS was administered and recommendations for intervention were made based on the individual HDS profile. The recommendations for modifying her behaviour were focused on maximizing strengths and minimizing weaknesses identified by the HDS profile. Findings revealed that there was observable reduction in the occurrence of the problem behaviour after the introduction of the intervention. These findings suggested that using results from the HDS to tailor interventions might assist in the management of behavioural problems in people with AD.