Attentional Demands in Early Dementia -A Preliminary Study in Taiwan In the early stage of Alzheimer disease (AD), symptoms are characterized at the behavioral level by deficits in memory, language, and perception, as well as by decreased efficiency in everyday tasks, spatial disorientation, and disturbances of mood. Although the first nonamnestic neuropsychological consequence of AD is a loss of attentional capacity, memory problem has generated by far the most research interest. Therefore, this study focused on exploring the relationships between attention, attentional demands, and social support as a mediator between these two variables. The theory used in this study is the directed attention framework. With a cross-sectional design, 40 normal elderly controls and 25 early AD patients (total n=65) were recruited from a memory disorder clinic at a teaching hospital in Northern Taiwan. A test battery of directed attention, attentional demands and social support as well as global cognitive measurements was administered. Findings indicated that there was no significant relationship between the capacity of directed attention and attentional demands (r=-.28, p > .05), while social support was positively and significantly related to the capacity of directed attention (r=.35, p < .01), and negatively as well as significantly associated with attentional demands (r=-.47, p < .01). In conclusion, social support may act as a mediator between the capacity of directed attention and attentional demands even though there was no direct relationship between the capacity of directed attention and attentional demands. Nursing interventions can target on providing social support to reduce attentional demands.
Session #1183 - Cognitive Impairment
The 29th Annual MNRS Research Conference (April 1-4, 2005)