Interventions focusing on learning pre-transfer wheelchair manipulation in a patient with severe Alzheimer's disease: a case report

Independence of transfer is important for the daily activities of wheelchair users. A critical step in performing this transfer includes a pre-transfer wheelchair manipulation, and patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) experience difficulties in learning these tasks. In this report, we present...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physiotherapy theory and practice 2024-05, Vol.40 (5), p.1091-1099
Main Authors: Nakagawa, Keita, Kanai, Shusaku, Kitakaze, Sosuke, Okamura, Hitoshi
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Activities of daily living
Aged, 80 and over
Alzheimer Disease - rehabilitation
Alzheimer Disease - therapy
Case reports
Cognitive functioning
Female
Hospitalization
Humans
Learning
Long term health care
Manipulation
Physical therapists
Physical Therapy Modalities
Physiotherapy
Praise
Retrieval
Severity
Treatment Outcome
Wheelchairs
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Summary:Independence of transfer is important for the daily activities of wheelchair users. A critical step in performing this transfer includes a pre-transfer wheelchair manipulation, and patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) experience difficulties in learning these tasks. In this report, we present the results of a treatment focused on learning pre-transfer wheelchair manipulation and its learning course in a patient with severe AD. The patient was a 92-year-old woman with severe AD during hospitalization in a long-term care ward. Since her cognitive function was highly compromised, she required assistance for pre-transfer wheelchair manipulation. Physiotherapists implemented a treatment plan that incorporated post-behavioral praise into a practice combining errorless learning and spaced retrieval training for pre-transfer wheelchair manipulation. The patient was able to accurately perform pre-transfer wheelchair manipulation in the seventh treatment session and achieved transfer independence after 12 physiotherapy sessions. This case report suggests that practicing combined errorless learning, spaced retrieval training, and post-behavioral praise was helpful as a treatment modality for an individual with severe AD for wheelchair manipulation learning before transfer.
ISSN:0959-3985
1532-5040
DOI:10.1080/09593985.2022.2149287