Author(s)

Kikuo Eguchi¹, Seigo Koura², Noriyuki Ogawa³, Nao Eguchi⁴, Akihiko Kondou¹

¹Faculty of Occupational Therapy, School of Rehabilitation, Reiwa Health Sciences University, Fukuoka City, Japan.
²Faculty of Rehabilitation, Nishikyusyu University, Kanzaki City, Japan.
³Department of Occupational Therapy, Faculty of Health Science, Kyoto Tachibana University, Kyoto City, Japan.
⁴Clinical Art Class Studio, Takanabe City, Japan.

Background: In actual clinical settings, an occupational therapist (OT) encounters a patient with moderate Alzheimer’s disease (AD) walking with an anxious expression on the ward. The OT walks with the patient and encourages them to look at the symbol tree in the center of the ward. Additionally, when the patient talks to the OT, the OT empathizes with them and responds appropriately. As a result, many patients feel less anxious and become calmer. Therefore, in this study, the OT walked with an elderly female patient in her 80s with moderate AD and measured the patient’s autonomic nervous system responses. The study aimed to verify to what extent the results matched the OT’s clinical observational perspective. Methods: An OT with over 10 years of experience and a good relationship with the patient conducted one-on-one walking sessions with the patient. We divided the sessions into five-time periods: when the patient and OT were sitting on a sofa, and when they were walking. We implemented the same approach to the patient as usual. Therefore, we prompted the patient to look at the symbol tree during the walking session. Additionally, when the patient talked to the OT, the OT empathized and gave appropriate responses. We checked the changes in the patient’s autonomic nervous system responses in each time period. Results: This study showed that when walking with an OT, patient with moderate AD had a significant increase in parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) activity. Therefore, it is suggested that the involvement of professionals such as the environment and the OT during walking training for Alzheimer’s patients may lead to improved mental stability. Conclusion: This study suggests that walking together with an OT may have a positive effect on the PNS of female patient with AD. The study also suggests that there is a potential agreement between clinical observation by the OT and evaluation results based on autonomous nervous system reactions. However, due to the limited number of patients, further studies involving a larger number of patients and multidimensional evaluations are needed.

Alzheimer’s Disease, Autonomic Nervous Response, Clinical Observational Perspective, Therapeutic Effect, Walking

Eguchi, K. , Koura, S. , Ogawa, N. , Eguchi, N. and Kondou, A. (2023) Verification of Therapeutic Effects When an Occupational Therapist Walks with a Patient with Moderate Alzheimer’s-Type Dementia: A Case Report—Validity of Clinical Observational Perspective Verified by Changes in Autonomic Nervous System Responses: A Preliminary Study. Open Journal of Therapy and Rehabilitation, 11, 54-61. doi: 10.4236/ojtr.2023.112005.