Evidence-based practice recommendations: caregiver-administered active cognitive stimulation for individuals with Alzheimer's disease

The Academy of Neurologic Communication Disorders and Sciences (ANCDS), the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), its Special Interest Division 2 (SID-2, Neurophysiology and Neurogenic Speech and Language Disorders), and the Veterans Administration (VA) collaborated to establish evidence-based practice recommendations for speech-language pathologists working with individuals with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and their caregivers. A writing committee was formed and generated a comprehensive technical report with evidence tables based on systematic review and classification of literature related to assessment and use of direct and indirect interventions with individuals with AD. Subsequent to writing this technical report, clinical papers have been published providing a detailed summary of the scientific evidence pertaining to specific intervention approaches. This clinical article provides a summary of the scientific evidence related to one type of indirect intervention, caregiver-administered active cognitive stimulation for home-dwelling individuals with AD. Three studies were reviewed and judged to provide Class II evidence to support the training of caregivers to administer interventions to individuals with AD. Participant characteristics, the nature of the intervention and training, outcomes, methodological concerns, trends across studies, and recommendations for clinical practice and future research are discussed.