Abstract:
Individuals with dementia residing in nursing homes, often spend the majority of their days doing nothing. A check-in procedure was utilized to increase engagement among three elderly individuals with dementia in a nursing home. This procedure combines prompts, praise and choice opportunities. A traditional 15-min check-in procedure was alternated with a 30-min check-in procedure, which requires half the implementation time. The check-in procedure produced large increases in engagement for two participants and moderate increases in engagement for one participant. Both the 15-min and 30-min checkin procedures produced similar levels of engagement for participants. The 30-min check-in procedure allows staff members to obtain similar increases in engagement whilst adding minimal extra workload to their current busy schedules.
