The Nursing Home Project is a 4 year intervention study funded
by the National Institute on Aging to improve communication in nursing homes.  The project started in 1997 and will be completed in August 2000.

Aims: 
- To improve the quantity of communication between residents with dementia, other residents, and nursing home staff.
- To improve the quality of communication between residents with dementia, other residents, and nursing home staff.
- To improve the quality of life of residents with dementia.
- To increase job satisfaction among nursing home staff.

Procedure:
The research project took place in 7 nursing homes and assisted living facilities in Tallahassee, Florida.  A total number of 125 residents and 137 staff members participated in the project.  Half the number of residents with dementia received memory books from the research team to help them remember important personal information.  The assigned nursing aides of these residents received training to communicate more effectively with residents with dementia.

Results:
- During care routines, nursing aides who received the training talked more with residents than nursing aides who did not receive the training.
- During care routines, there was more positive communication
between nursing aides who received training and residents.
 - During and around meal times, other residents talked more with residents who received memory books than with residents without memory books.
- The quality of life measures increased for residents with memory books but not for residents without memory books.
- Trained nursing aides displayed more effective communication
techniques during care routines than nursing aides who did not
receive training. This effect remained throughout the three month
follow-up period.

More info:
For questions about the Nursing Home Project, contact 
Dr. Michelle Bourgeois (850) 644-6639, mbourgeo@garnet.acns.fsu.edu or 
Dr. Katinka Dijkstra (850) 644-3952 
dykstra@psy.fsu.edu

The Spaced Retrieval Project is a 3 year intervention project, funded by the National Institute on Aging.  Dr. Michelle Bourgeois and Dr. Cameron Camp from Myers Research Institute in Cleveland, Ohio, started this memory training study in January of 2000. Spaced Retrieval is a training program that involves practice at successfully remembering information at successively longer time intervals.

Aims: 
- To assess the extent to which a memory intervention, Spaced Retrieval, increases treatment effectiveness for communication problems in older adults with dementia during standard speech therapy sessions.

More info: If you are interested in participating in the study, or would like more information on this project, please contact Dr. Michelle Bourgeois at (850) 644-6639, or email, mbourgeo@garnet.acns.fsu.edu for more details.

Text available: 
"A  Therapy Technique for Improving Memory: SPACED
RETRIEVAL"
This workbook takes speech-language pathologists and occupational, physical, music and art therapists step-by-step through this useful technique.  The book includes a review of the research, case studies, detailed instructions, helpful resources, and reproducible work sheets for use during therapy sessions.  All are designed to help clients reach their therapy goals.  The authors of this useful text are Jennifer A. Brush, M.A., CCC/SLP, speech-language pathologist and researcher, and Cameron J. Camp, Ph.D., psychologist and senior research scientist.

For more information:
Contact Dr. Michelle Bourgeois, (850) 644-6639, mbourgeo@garnet.acns.fsu.edu