VoiceMyChoice™: Facilitating Understanding of Preferences of Residents with Dementia

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate the effects of visual materials (labeled pictures and a preference sorting template) on the ability to increase the convergence (agreement) of responses by persons with dementia and their nursing assistants on a Preference Assessment Questionnaire that contained 25 items related to Quality of Life (QoL). A total of 33 nursing assistants participated; 54% were native English speakers and 46% were non-native English speakers. Thirty-seven residents with dementia were randomly assigned to either the treatment condition, a 10-min preference card sorting task (VoiceMyChoice™; VMC) which reflected the items and content of the Preference Assessment Questionnaire, or a control condition consisting of a 10-min card matching activity using the materials from VMC. Before and after the treatment or the control session, residents and their assigned NA were administered the Preference Assessment Questionnaire; one week later, these procedures were repeated to assess consistency in responding and improved convergence between dyad members’ responses over time. Results revealed that convergence scores between members of NA-Resident dyads increased significantly after the use of VMC for both the English and non-native English dyads, but not in the control condition. VMC has the potential to enable persons with dementia to communicate personal choices and for their caregivers of various linguistic and/or cultural backgrounds to understand them better.