Response time and health care learning of elderly patients

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Abstract
The purpose of this study was to determine if elderly patients perform better in health care learning when provided slower or self-paced response conditions. The sample consisted of 105 institutionalized elderly people randomly assigned to three response groups: fast-paced, slow-paced, and self-paced. After nutrition instruction, learning performances of each of the three groups were measured. Learning performances under the fast- and slow-paced conditions did not differ; learning performances under the self-paced condition was superior to the two experimenter-paced conditions. Findings of this study document that a self-paced response condition is advantageous for elderly patients.