Running head: ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY

Assistive Technology Device Paper: RSVLT

Davis Legaspi-David
Touro University Nevada

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Client

Bess Lopez is married with two grown sons. Bess is now 80-years-old and lives in her
eldest sons two-story home in Los Angeles, California with her husband and her sons family.
Prior to Besss retirement, she worked as a registered nurse (RN) initially in the Philippines and
then she immigrated to the United States and continued the remaining years of her nursing career
(total of 43 years as an RN) at St. Joshua Hospital. Bess believes strongly in the importance of
family, friends and in her religious fate, therefore she always schedules her plans around those
three components. In addition, Bess is an individual who enjoys life. Prior to Bess doctor
diagnosing her a year ago with mild Alzheimers disease, Bess would often spend most of her
time attending ballroom dance classes, relaxing while reading her romantic novels and making
weekend plans with her friends to travel to Las Vegas and gamble at the casinos.
The progression of Bess mild Alzheimers disease has already negatively affected her
occupational performance in numerous aspects of her life. For example, during her dance classes,
Bess would often gets frustrated with herself for not being able to learn the choreography as
quickly as she use to. In addition, a standard novel use to only take Bess a couple of days to
finish, however now it requires a longer length of time to complete it. She often forgets what she
has read and has to reread the passage several times. Furthermore, Bess no longer takes
weekend trips with her friends to Las Vegas due to her husband and son being worried about her
health, especially when she is far away from home. Specifically, if Bess husband and son are
not there for her, they worry that she might forget to take her prescribed Alzheimers disease
medications. A typical day for Bess now consist of eating the meals that her son has prepared for
her, taking light strolls with her husband around their neighborhood and crocheting or reading a
novel, while watching her favorite soap opera shows.

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Diagnosis

Alzheimers disease is the most common cause of dementia. It is a chronic

neurodegenerative disease that normally targets older adults (usually after the age of 65) like
Bess and unfortunately todays modern medicine is still unable to stop the diseases progression
once a client has been diagnosed (Alzheimers Association, 2015). Researchers are still uncertain
of how Alzheimers disease begins; however, they are finding that damages to the brain seem to
initially develop long before the first symptoms become apparent. The physiological changes
that occur throughout the brain are buildups of two abnormal protein deposits call amyloid
plaques and tau tangles (Alzheimers Association, 2015). Researchers believe that these protein
buildups lead to a disruption in communication between neurons causing them to lose their
ability to function and ultimately die out. During the sever stages of Alzheimers disease, the
death of brain cells will lead to a significant reduction in brain mass, which will negatively affect
more than just an individuals memories.
Nevertheless, during the mild stage of Alzheimers disease an individual can still
function independently in activities of daily living and instrumental activities of daily living.
However, individuals will experience memory lapses, such as problems coming up with the right
word or name, having greater difficulty performing tasks in social or work settings or misplacing
items (Alzheimers Association, 2015). The progression of mild Alzheimers disease to moderate
Alzheimers disease occurs at a different rate for every individual diagnosed.
Purpose
The purpose of the RSVLT is to act as a medical management system for individuals
with mild Alzheimers disease. Specifically, unlike the various medical management systems
that are currently available in the market, the RSVLT takes on a more streamline and convenient

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approach towards managing ones Alzheimers medication. Clients with mild Alzheimers
disease who choose to use the RSVLT are able to discreetly carry any of the common
Alzheimers disease medication (Donepezil (Aricept), Rivastigmine (Exelon) and Galantamine
(Razadyne)) around their wrist. In addition, by not having to carry a bulky plastic container and
instead having the opportunity to wearing a more stylish storage device, individuals are more
incline to take their medications everywhere they go, resulting in a much lower chance of
forgetting to consume their medications. Now, even though there is no current cure for
Alzheimers disease, remembering to take ones medication will help temporarily alleviate
symptoms and possibly slow down the progression of the disease. Therefore, the RSVLT was
developed as a tool to help remind clients with mild Alzheimers disease to take their proper
medication so that they can functionally perform as optimally as they can with their occupations.
In Bess case, using the RSVLT will give her one less burden to think about so that she
can fully engage in her occupations. For example, when Bess is enjoying an outing with her
family or friends, she will easily be reminded about taking her Alzheimers disease medication
since it will often be in front of her (instead of in her purse where she still has to search for them
and possibly forget about due to the distractions of her enjoyment) or through either of the two
methods (tactile stimulation or text message) that the RSVLT alerts it wearer.
Device Description
When designing the RSVLT, each of its features were specifically design to cater to
clients with mild Alzheimers disease. Particularly, the majority of the RSVLT is made from
though nylon Paracord. This material was chosen in order to provide a durable yet flexible
product that will last for a long time. The slide release plastic buckles were added in order to
provide a lightweight yet, dependable means of securely attaching the RSVLT to the clients

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wrist. The digital component of the RSVLT is a sleek modern watch that can easily be
programed to alert clients to take their medication. There are two ways that the RSVLT will alert
the client either through tactile stimulation by vibrating or it will send a direct message to the
clients cellphone. Therefore, in todays digital world it will be less likely for a client to forget
about their medication. On the bottom side of the RSVLT, is where clients can safely store their
medication. There are seven storage pods (one for each day of the week) that clients can easily
have access to putting in or pulling out their medication and yet the storage pods will not allow
clients medications to slip out. Lastly, on the exterior surface of the RSVLT, at first it might just
seem like a simple logo patch of the product, however it also acts as a sleeve to safely keep a
copy of the clients prescriptions or their identification information. Each RSVLT set has four
different color bracelets, which will help clients easily keep order of their medication within each
of the weeks in a month.
Literature Review
In an article titled, Improving Quality of Life for Persons With Alzheimers Disease and
Their Family Caregivers: Brief Occupational Therapy Intervention, a pretest-posttest control
group experiment was conducted in order to see if occupational therapy (OT) recommendations
would improve the quality of life of individuals with Alzheimers disease and if it would
decrease the burden on their primary caregivers (Dooley & Hinojosa, 2004). In total there were
80 subjects that consisted of 40 men and women diagnosed with mild to moderate Alzheimers
disease and 40 caregivers. Individuals with Alzheimers disease along with their caregivers were
split in half to either be in the experimental group or control group. The researchers utilized three
instruments one was the Assessment of Instrumental Function (AIF) assessment tool, which
depicts the skills and the level of support that an individual will Alzheimers disease needs

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(Dooley & Hinojosa, 2004). In turn, this information helped the OT in the research team plan
appropriate interventions for each subject (these intervention plans were only made available for
the experimental group). The second instrument was the Zarit Burden Interview that measured
the caregivers feelings of burden towards caring for an individual with Alzheimers disease. The
last research instrument was the Affect and Activity Limitation-Alzheimers Disease Assessment
(AAL-AD), which measured the quality of life of an individual with Alzheimers disease
(Dooley & Hinojosa, 2004). After one month, the researchers followed up on the subjects and
ultimately, the results of the study showed a significant improvement in the quality of life for the
individuals in the experimental group that complied with the OT recommendations (such as
environmental modifications like pill reminder boxes) relative to the control group. In addition,
the level of burden of the caregivers had also decreased.
In a similar study called The Process of Medication Management for Older Adults With
Dementia, it looked at the personal experiences connected to medication management for older
adults with dementia, their caregivers and their healthcare providers (Kaasalainen et al., 2011).
This study involved using a grounded theory approach in which 57 subjects (pharmacist,
physicians, caregivers and patients) were interviewed in order to provide information that can be
used to design, implement and evaluate interventions towards improving medication compliance
for dementia clients (Kaasalainen et al., 2011). The recurring ideas that were generated where
simplifying the dosage, specifically instead of four times a day, it should be two times a day.
Other ideas were using reminders, having a variety of medication types (instead of pills, a liquid
form would be easier to take) and constant re-education of clients and caregivers.
These two research articles correlate with my assistive devise because they both depict a
common theme of helping clients with Alzheimers disease by using adaptive equipment or

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reminders to help them remember to take their medications. The first article suggest using a pill
reminder box, while the second article stated using a compliance packaging and reminder notes
and calls to help clients sustain their independence as long as possible. These are features that the
RSVLT provides to help ensure that clients live a quality life as long as possible.
Cost Analysis of Materials
For less than $35.00, an individual with mild Alzheimers disease can produce his or her
own RSVL. The price can fluctuate depending on where an individual purchases their parachute
cords. Also, depending on the thickness, color, and if they buy them separately, it will make the
price higher (around only three to four dollars more). However, if they purchase a parachute cord
kit, than it should lower the price.
The majority of the price is due to the Bluetooth sync smart bracelet that was purchased
on Amazon. This item cost me a total of $21.98 with tax and free shipping included. Any digital
watch with a built in alarm will work, however I chose this watch in particularly because of its
streamline design to help me achieve the slim bracelet appearance that I was going for.
The next big purchase were four individual parachute cord packets that ended up costing
me only $6.95 in total. I bought these items at Michaels where I was able to take advantage of a
store deal that they were having, which was 40% off my entire purchase.
The paracord buckles were also a purchase I made at Michaels and they were worth
$2.79. Five buckles came in a single package and I only ended up using four, which ended up
costing me only $1.86 of the total amount used.
The Velcro stick back tape was an item that I had previously purchased at Walmart prior
to this assignment. Nevertheless, this item cost me $7.48 worth of 5ft of Velcro. However I only
used $.78 worth of it.

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Lastly, the empty gelatin capsules were purchased at Wholefoods for $5.99. There are
100 capsules that come within this packet. I only ended up using $3.35 worth of it.
Please see Appendix A for a full list of materials and pictures of how each item looks
like.
Comparable Alternatives
The RSVLT is a unique item in which there is no product like it in the market today.
There are however, comparable alternatives that lead to the creation of the RSVLT. As
mentioned earlier, the RSVLT was priced at less than $35.00 to make, nevertheless when
considering all the features that come with the RSVLT, $34.92 is a reasonable price. When we
compare the RSVLT to its competitors, the competitors that were least expensive were still bulky
and had fewer medication storage slots. As for the more expensive competitors, they were also
still bulky. Please see Appendix B to further compare and contrast the RSVLT to similar
products.

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References

Alzheimers Association. (2015). Stages of Alzheimers. Retrieved from:

http://www.alz.org/alzheimers_disease_stages_of_alzheimers.asp
Dooley, N.R., & Hinojosa, J. (2004). Improving quality of life for persons with alzheimers
disease and their family caregivers: Brief occupational therapy intervention. The
American Journal of Occupational Therapy, Vol. 58, 561-569. doi:10.5014/ajot.58.5.561
Kaasalainen, S., Dolovich, L., Papaioannou, A., Holbrook, A., Lau, E., Ploeg, J., & ... Emily, A.
(2011). The process of medication management for older adults with dementia. Journal
Of Nursing & Healthcare Of Chronic Illnesses, 3(4), 407-418. doi:10.1111/j.17529824.2011.01114.x

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Appendix A

Item

Store

Price of

Price of Total

Single Item

Amount Used

Parachute Cord

Michaels

$2.79

$6.95

Paracord Buckle
(6 piece)

Michaels

$2.79

$1.86

Velcro Stick Back

Tape (5ft)

Walmart

$7.48

$.78

Empty Gelatin
Capsules (50
pieces)

Wholefoods

$5.99

$3.35

Forestfish
Bluetooth Sync
Smart Bracelet

Amazon

$21.98 + free
shipping

$21.98

Total: $34.92
(For 4 RSVLT)

Photo

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Appendix B

Item

Store

Price

Medicine Storage Box

Alibaba.com
http://www.alibaba.com
/trade/search?fsb=y&Ind
exArea=product_en&CatI
d=&SearchText=medicine
+storage+box

$10.64 +
($2.99
shipping)

Pills Reminder Drug

Time Box

Dx.com
http://www.dx.com/s/pil
l+box+reminder

$9.95 + (1.99
shipping)

ADG Sports Pill Box

with Digital Timer and
Alarm

Sears:
http://www.sears.com/b
udd-leather-181798-42secret-garden-roundpill/pSPM188164164?prdNo=3
&blockNo=3&blockType=
G3

$25.99 (free
shipping)

Tab Time Super

Mobilitysales.com
http://www.mobilitycare
.com/medicalequipment/dailyliving/pill-boxes.html

$55.00 + (3.50
shipping)

Photo