Strategies such as privatization, counterreinforcers, and moral suasion have been suggested and tested as means of preserving shared, slowly regenerating resources such as whales, clean air, and forests. We hypothesized that reinforcers would preserve a shared simulated resource best when it was shared in a commons dilemma format, and would be relatively ineffective when the resource was divided into private territories. Subjects in groups of three played a game in which they had to harvest resources from a slowly regenerating pool without depleting the resource. Three levels of reinforcement (reward, punishment, or no reinforcement) were crossed with three game structures (territoriality. Golden Rule moral suasion, and basic structure). Results showed that neither reward nor punishment helped the management of the commons when the resource was broken down into private segments, but both reward and punishment helped in the Golden Rule and basic structure conditions. Subjects perceived the territorial condition to be more competitive and more under their control compared to the moral suasion or basic structure conditions. In the moral suasion condition. subjects enjoyed either reinforcement condition (reward or punishment) more than no reinforcement.

Conflicting findings have been reported on whether attending an Alzheimer's disease (AD) support group is a positive or negative experience. As a result, the present study provides the results from a retrospective analysis of the effects of caregiver support groups over an eight year period. The results suggest that those in distress are the most likely to attend support groups, and the benefits of attending become more apparent over time. The primary reason given by participants for having stopped attending support groups was the lack of a program for those who no longer are active care providers. Many of these same individuals indicated a marked interest in caregiver issues, but felt that most of the information provided was for those providers early in the care process. Thus, support groups that consider caregiver transitions may prove of interest.

An activity program for groups of 6 to 8 residents was implemented for 51 residents of 3 dementia units. Nursing assistants, not the activity director, led the small group activities. Observations across a 16-week period indicate that, after the program began, residents walked with others more, sang more, frowned less, and were physically restrained less. In addition, psychotropic medications were reduced for 7 of 20 who were on this type of medication. These results suggest that an inexpensive small group activity program, ifused in conjunction with a supportive, caring staff, is valuable in avoiding some excess disabilities of residents of special care units . Alzheimer's disease or some other type of dementia afflicts at least 50% of nursing home residents (Office of Technology Assessment, 1987). Because of behavior problems associated with dementia, many nursing homes have established special care units (SCUs) to accommodate the special needs of demented residents. SCUs stress not only basic medical and physical needs but also social needs with activity programs and more interaction between staff and residents. These units tend to cost more to maintain, but research has suggested that SCUs are helpful in reducing problem behaviors (Cleary,

No abstract

There is a predictable decline in functioning among individuals with progressive dementias. In addition, independent of the disease process, there can be “excess disabilities” due to incompatible components of the social and physical environment. We review the nature and sources of these excess disabilities and examine the literature on ameliorative interventions in special care units.