Exploring the Feasibility of Using Affective Pictures to Elicit Positive Emotion with Nursing home Residents with Dementia

Positive emotion has been found to have benefit in people with dementia. This study investigates the feasibility of using affective pictures to elicit positive emotion from nursing home resident with dementia. Sixteen nursing home residents (12 female and 4 male) with a diagnosis of mild to moderate degree of dementia have been recruited in this study. Fifteen pictures from International Affective Picture System (IAPS) have been selected to use in this study. These pictures were classified to three sets, based on their reported arousal and valence ratings: (a) excitement: high arousal and high valence; (b) pleasure: median arousal and high valence; and (c) relaxation: low arousal and high valence. During the experiment, one researcher showed the pictures to the participants, and a second researcher recorded their response to these pictures via the attitude item of Observational Measurement of Engagement (OME). participants showed their most positive attitude while they reviewed the (b) picture set (OME attitude score 5.5±0.73). Their attitudes to set (a) and set (c) were somewhat neutral (OME attitude scores 4.25±0.58 and 4.44±0.63). Although this research is still in progress and the data reported here is only the preliminary data, we found some pictures from IAPS can be used in eliciting positive emotion in people with dementia. The results also suggested that the selection of eliciting stimuli should be highly personalized.