This pilot study examines the efficacy of a group memory notebook intervention. Five individuals with very mild dementia and 4 spouses who served as coaches attended 14 group treatment sessions. Therapists use educational strategies and learning activities packets to teach memory notebook use. At posttreatment, coaches report fewer symptoms of depression, and participants with very mild dementia report greater confidence in ability to obtain support. Modified laboratory memory testing reveals that participants with dementia demonstrate improved posttreatment memory scores because of increased note-taking behavior and more frequent referencing of notes. Although more frequent everyday memory strategies use is reported at posttreatment, this does not translate into reports of fewer everyday memory failures or greater everyday independence for the participants with dementia. This study demonstrates that a multidyad group intervention can successfully be used to teach patients with very mild dementia to use a memory notebook, with beneficial effects for both members of the care dyad.

We investigated the extent to which a contingency management (CM) procedure that deducted money from a grand total available at the end of the study compared to a procedure in which money accumulated with continued abstinence from cigarette smoking. Results suggested that the procedure in which money increased contingent on abstinence resulted in a significantly greater likelihood of obtaining a clinically relevant (i.e., 48-hr) period of abstinence. In terms of attendance, participants in the condition in which monetary reinforcement accrued with consecutive instances of abstinence were significantly less likely to miss consecutive appointments than those in which money was deducted for failure to abstain.