FUNCTIONAL SKILLS TRAINING
FUNCTIONAL SKILLS TRAINING
Association of Racial Status and Training Language with Baseline Performance and Training Gains During Computerized Training of Technology-related Everyday Functional Skills In Older Adults
Macchiarelli et al., The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry (2024)
The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry
Association of Racial Status and Training Language with Baseline Performance and Training Gains During Computerized Training of Technology-related Everyday Functional Skills In Older Adults
SUMMARY
Research consistently finds that lower baseline performance predicts greater gains with computerized training. Lower baseline performance can originate from many factors, including educational and environmental disadvantages, leading to reduced exposure to functional tasks. Across six computerized technology-related functional skills, baseline performance and training gains were compared across race and training language.
Lower baseline performance of functional skills was found to be a positive predictor of training gains and was efficiently reversed through training. Even participants who initially appeared more impaired achieved substantial gains, congruent with the results reported in psychiatric populations. Critically, low baseline competence should not be interpreted as reflecting negatively on potential training gains.
