Comparing two different orientation strategies for promoting indoor traveling in people with Alzheimer's disease

• Topographical orientation disorders are a major issue in people suffering from AD.
• Two orientation strategies for promoting indoor traveling in people with AD were compared.
• An assistive technology program and a backward chaining procedure were alternated across days.
• AT resulted useful for supporting indoor traveling in people with moderate/severe AD.

The present study compared two different types of orientation strategies: an assistive technology program (AT, i.e., remotely controlled sound/light devices) and a backward chaining procedure (BC) for promoting indoor traveling in four persons with moderate to severe Alzheimer's disease (AD). A social validation assessment of the two strategies was also conducted employing undergraduate students as raters. For three out of four participants, AT intervention was more effective than the BC procedure, whilst for the fourth participant the two types of intervention had a comparably satisfying efficacy. A doubly Multivariate Analysis of Variance on social validation assessment data provided generally more positive scores for the AT intervention. These results suggest that AT programs (a) can be valuably employed for restoring and maintaining independence in indoor traveling in people with moderate to severe AD, and (b) might be perceived as preferable to conventional teaching strategies within daily contexts.