Bruce Carrie, Brush Jennifer A, Sanford Jon A, Calkins Margaret P
I.D.E.A.S., Inc., Kirtland, Ohio 44095, USA.
Semin Speech Lang. 2013 Apr;34(1):42-51. doi: 10.1055/s-0033-1337394. Epub 2013 Mar 18.
Communication dysfunction that results from dementia can be exacerbated by environmental barriers such as inadequate lighting, noisy conditions, poor or absent environmental cues, and visual clutter. Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) should address these environmental barriers as part of a comprehensive treatment plan for clients with dementia. The Environment and Communication Assessment Toolkit for Dementia Care (ECAT) was evaluated by SLPs to determine: (1) changes in awareness of environmental factors prior to and after training; (2) impact of the ECAT on practice as measured by changes in the number of environmental modifications recommended and made prior to and after training; (3) utility of the information as measured by the helpfulness, amount of new information, and usefulness of the ECAT; and (4) usability of the ECAT materials based on ease of use. The SLPs used the ECAT with clients with dementia who had functional limitations and required substantial assistance with daily activities. Results indicate that the ECAT is an effective tool for SLPs, providing information about the impact of the environment on communication and supplying sufficient resources to make recommendations and implement effective interventions. The ECAT successfully increased awareness of environmental modifications, influenced the practice of recommending environmental modifications, and had utility in diverse aspects of clinical practice.
痴呆症导致的沟通功能障碍会因环境障碍而加剧，如照明不足、噪音环境、环境线索不佳或缺失以及视觉混乱。言语语言病理学家（SLP）应将解决这些环境障碍作为痴呆症患者综合治疗计划的一部分。SLP对痴呆症护理环境与沟通评估工具包（ECAT）进行了评估，以确定：（1）培训前后对环境因素的认知变化；（2）通过培训前后建议和进行的环境调整数量变化来衡量ECAT对实践的影响；（3）通过ECAT的帮助性、新信息量和有用性来衡量信息的实用性；（4）基于易用性对ECAT材料的可用性进行评估。SLP将ECAT用于有功能限制且在日常生活中需要大量帮助的痴呆症患者。结果表明，ECAT对SLP来说是一种有效的工具，它提供了有关环境对沟通影响的信息，并提供了足够的资源来提出建议和实施有效的干预措施。ECAT成功提高了对环境调整的认识，影响了推荐环境调整的实践，并在临床实践的各个方面都具有实用性。
