Supplemental Material for Naturalistic Assessment of Everyday Functioning in Individuals With Mild Cognitive Impairment: The Day-Out Task

2012 ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Ritchie ◽  
Craig W Ritchie

Cognitive decline has commonly been considered an inevitable result of brain aging and has been of clinical interest principally because of related difficulties with everyday functioning. Since the 1990s the “normality” of age-related cognitive decline has been called into question, being commonly attributed to a number of underlying disorders. Numerous concepts have been proposed which link subclinical cognitive change to pathological states (mild cognitive disorder, mild neurocognitive disorder, mild cognitive impairment). Of these, mild cognitive impairment (MCI) has become the most popular, driven on the one hand by industrial interests seeking to extend new dementia treatments for a more prevalent subclinical syndrome, and on the other by researchers attempting to identify at-risk populations. MCI has been both criticized for “medicalizing” behavior still within normal limits (Stephan et al., 2008; Moreira et al., 2008) and welcomed in that it suggests cognitive decline with aging may not be inevitable, but rather due to abnormalities which could ultimately be treated. Recently, in both Europe (DuBois et al., 2007) and the USA (Albert et al., 2011), panels of experts have scrutinized the concept of MCI and more broadly the pre-dementia stages of neurodegenerative diseases and offered new research diagnostic criteria. These proposed criteria have highlighted the (potential) value of biomarkers in assisting diagnosis, although some have considered the elevation of biomarkers to this level of importance in diagnosing disease before dementia develops to be premature given both the extent and quality of diagnostic biomarker data currently available (McShane et al., 2011a; 2011b).


2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (5) ◽  
pp. 503-514 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine Hackett ◽  
Rachel Mis ◽  
Deborah A.G. Drabick ◽  
Tania Giovannetti

AbstractObjective:Relative to dementia, little is known about informant bias in mild cognitive impairment (MCI). We investigated the influence of informant demographic and relational characteristics on reports of everyday functioning using the Functional Activities Questionnaire (FAQ).Method:Four thousand two hundred eighty-four MCI participants and their informants from the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center Uniform Data Set were included. Informants were stratified according to cohabitation, relationship, visit frequency, race/ethnicity, education, and sex. Informant-rated Mean FAQ score was compared across these groups using univariate general linear model analyses and post hoc tests. Interactions were tested between informant variables. The predictive contribution of informant variables to FAQ score was explored using hierarchical linear regression. Analyses covaried for participant cognition using a cognitive composite score, and for participant age, sex, and depression.Results:After controlling for participant cognition, depression, age, and sex, informant-rated FAQ scores varied significantly across all informant variables (p’s < .005, ηp2’s ≤ .033) except sex and visit frequency. FAQ scores were higher (more impaired) among informants who cohabitate with the participant, among paid caregivers, spouses, and adult children, and among informants with higher levels of education. Scores were lowest (less impaired) among Black/African American informants as compared to all other racial/ethnic groups.Conclusions:Demographic and relational characteristics of informants influence the perception and reporting of instrumental activities of daily living in adults with MCI. As everyday functioning is crucial for differential diagnosis and treatment outcome measurement, it is important to be aware of sources of informant report discrepancies.


2011 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. S541-S541
Author(s):  
Feng Lin ◽  
Rachel Roiland ◽  
Shelly Vandenbergh ◽  
Dorothy Edwards ◽  
Carey Gleason ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Maureen Schmitter-Edgecombe ◽  
Katelyn Brown ◽  
Catherine Luna ◽  
Reanne Chilton ◽  
Catherine A. Sumida ◽  
...  

Background: Compensatory aids can help mitigate the impact of progressive cognitive impairment on daily living. Objective: We evaluate whether the learning and sustained use of an Electronic Memory and Management Aid (EMMA) application can be augmented through a partnership with real-time, activity-aware transition-based prompting delivered by a smart home. Methods: Thirty-two adults who met criteria for amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) were randomized to learn to use the EMMA app on its own (N = 17) or when partnered with smart home prompting (N = 15). The four-week, five-session manualized EMMA training was conducted individually in participant homes by trained clinicians. Monthly questionnaires were completed by phone with trained personnel blind to study hypotheses. EMMA data metrics were collected continuously for four months. For the partnered condition, activity-aware prompting was on during training and post-training months 1 and 3, and off during post-training month 2. Results: The analyzed aMCI sample included 15 EMMA-only and 14 partnered. Compared to the EMMA-only condition, by week four of training, participants in the partnered condition were engaging with EMMA more times daily and using more basic and advanced features. These advantages were maintained throughout the post-training phase with less loss of EMMA app use over time. There was little differential impact of the intervention on self-report primary (everyday functioning, quality of life) and secondary (coping, satisfaction with life) outcomes. Conclusion: Activity-aware prompting technology enhanced acquisition, habit formation and long-term use of a digital device by individuals with aMCI. (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03453554).


2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 421-431 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nisha Raghunath ◽  
Jessamyn Dahmen ◽  
Katelyn Brown ◽  
Diane Cook ◽  
Maureen Schmitter-Edgecombe

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document