The use of signposts and active training to modify ward disorientation in elderly patients

Abstract

Two approaches to management of ward disorientation in moderately/gravely demented elderly females were tested separately and in combination on eight single cases in a long-stay psychogeriatric ward. The first approach, an active orientation training, provided the patients with verbal cues describing the ward environment and an active rehearsal of different ward locations. The second approach, signposting, involved modifying the environment by providing obvious discriminative stimuli, i.e. large signposts. Active training alone and in combination with signposts produced improvements in ward orientation but signposts alone were less effective.