Effects of Memory Aids on the Conversations of Elderly Chinese Persons

Abstract

Abstract The effects of memory books on the quantity and quality of conversations of 3 Mandarin-speaking Chinese persons with dementia were evaluated using a multiple baseline design across behaviors. Memory books containing 10 pages for each of 3 topics (subjects' daily life, family, and themselves), were used during 5-min daily conversational sessions and at 1- or 2-week follow-up sessions with the experimenter. The results revealed that all clients increased the number of on-topic factual statements and reduced ambiguous, unintelligible, and perseverative utterances during treatment and follow-up phases with the memory book. These findings replicate previous research on the effects of memory books on the conversation of English speaking persons with dementia.