Technology-based orientation programs to support indoor travel by persons with moderate Alzheimer’s disease: Impact, assessment and social validation

The present study (a) extended the assessment of an orientation program involving auditory cues (i.e., verbal messages automatically presented from the destinations) with five patients with Alzheimer’s disease, (b) compared the effects of this programwith those of a program with light cues (i.e., a program in which strobe lights were used instead of the verbal messages) with the same five patients, and (c) conducted a social validation assessment of the two programs with 70 university psychology students employed as social raters. Results confirmed the effectiveness of the program with auditory cues and showed an equally strong impact of the program with light cues with all five patients. The psychology students involved in the social validation assessment provided significantly higher scores for the program involving light cues on a six-item questionnaire. Those scores suggested that this program was perceived as a practically and socially preferable choice. The implications of the findings for daily contexts dealing with patients with Alzheimer’s disease are discussed.