Thesis
Real-World Compensatory Strategy Use in Community-Dwelling Older Adults: An Evaluation of Quality
Washington State University
Master of Science (MS), Washington State University
01/2022
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7273/000004565
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/124929
Abstract
Introduction: Older adults often spontaneously engage in compensatory strategies (CS) to support completion of everyday tasks. However, factors that influence success of chosen strategies remain unclear. The proposed study aims to examine if an evaluation of the overall quality of compensatory strategies, as compared to a count of strategies, may better predict everyday prospective memory (PM) task completion. Method: Seventy older adults participated in two testing sessions from their own homes through video conferencing (Zoom). Participants were presented four novel real-world prospective memory tasks designed to be carried out independently in the future. Upon task presentation, participants were given time to plan and encouraged to use their typical compensatory strategies. The examiner captured detailed information about the strategies planned at task presentation (T1) as well as the strategies utilized at follow-up testing (T2). In addition to a count (CS Count) and categorization of compensatory strategies, participants’ strategies were assigned a quality score (CS Quality) based on video review. Participants were also scored on how accurately they completed the four PM tasks (PM Accuracy). Results: Hierarchical regressions revealed that Total CS Quality and CS Count planned in advance (T1) did not accurately predict PM Accuracy. In contrast, the Total CS Quality of utilized strategies (T2) added incremental validity above age, cognition, and CS Count in predicting PM Accuracy. Furthermore, in a model that omitted utilized CS Count, utilized CS Quality accounted for a similar amount of variance as the more complex model. Exploratory analyses revealed that participants generally improved upon their strategies between sessions, though a subsample of participants displayed a trend toward degradation in strategy quality despite increasing strategy quantity across time. Discussion: Incremental validity of utilized strategy quality in predicting accuracy of everyday PM task completion was established. Currently, no coding system exists for evaluating the quality of cognitive compensatory strategies. Findings of this study may provide researchers with tools to study compensation in a more nuanced manner. Furthermore, findings of this and future studies have the potential to be translated into clinical interventions, such as targeted compensatory strategy trainings.
Metrics
Details
- Title
- Real-World Compensatory Strategy Use in Community-Dwelling Older Adults
- Creators
- Brooke Beech
- Contributors
- Maureen Schmitter-Edgecombe (Advisor)Carrie Cuttler (Committee Member)Walter Scott (Committee Member)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Psychology, Department of
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Science (MS), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University
- Number of pages
- 79
- Identifiers
- OCLC#: 1370911308; 99900898640501842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Thesis