Dementia Observation Paper

My participants ranged from the ages 60 to 65 (I was not allowed to get the exact age of the participants due to an agreement I made). The participants consisted of four males and three females. They still had the ability solve certain mental task like a puzzle. Two of the female participants had progressed so far in dementia that they needed assistance to solve the puzzle. All the male participants were able to solve the puzzle without any kind of assistance. They were all able to walk without the assistance of a cane or a walker. There were one skinny, one average, and five fat participants. The male participants either had or were starting to develop bald head and only one female participant had gray hair. There were six white patients and one African American patient who participated in the activity.

The method used was an experimental activity aimed at problem solving in dementia patients. The puzzle had 4 boards, _ cubes, and _cards. The goal of the puzzle was to see if a dementia patient could actually improve their problem solving ability if they were given a puzzle of the same difficulty to do in two different trails with a one minute interval. Their dementias

could not be too far progressed or else they would be unable to solve the puzzle. It was very neat to see a group of people who were actually solving the puzzle to the best of their ability and enjoying the activity at the same time.
First I led the participants into a break room where they were seated on 4 tables of their choosing, but not more than two on a table.

Then I placed the board on each table with the blank portion of the cube facing up (they are not allowed to touch the cube). After that I went to each individual table to give directions of what I wanted them to do to make sure they understood the requirement. Then the participants were given a card that has a picture of what the cubes should be shaped into. They were given 20 – 30 minutes to build the design (during this time was carefully observing them as they designed the picture). Finally I collected the all the materials when every participant had completed the task and then restarted the process for the second trial (took me about 3 minutes to undo

everything).
Each participant was able to complete the puzzle in the given time period. It appears that the time used in trial one and two remained the same or more time was needed. The patients were able to design the picture on their own without any physical help (I did not physically do it for them or point them in the right direction; I just merely kept some of the patients on course with a reminder). The time used was only measured in minutes and seconds were not included in the comparison of both trails. The male participants used an average time of 4.875 minutes compared to the female participants who used an average time 6.666. All participants completed the task in less than ten minutes and there was a three minute interval between the first and second trail.