Efficacy of Active Participation in Conversation with a Virtual Patient with Alzheimer's Disease

The objective of our research is to facilitate social conversation between persons affected with Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and their caregivers via a future intervention for caregivers. In the intervention, a computer system will enable caregivers to practice spoken conversation with high-fidelity Virtual Patients simulating the verbal and non-verbal behavior of persons with AD (VP-AD). It is hoped that the skills acquired by the caregiver will improve the quality of life of persons with AD and reduce caregiver stress. In this paper, we describe a pilot study intended to evaluate the efficacy of active participation in conversation with a lower fidelity VP-AD in comparison to passive observation of the same VP-AD in conversation. The study found, after 15 minutes or less of practice, a significant increase in use of recommended caregiver communication skills by participants in the active condition.