Summary
Nursing home residents with dementia sometimes express pain through disruptive behaviour when they are unable to communicate their pain appropriately. This study investigated the effect of pain on disruptive behaviour in nursing home residents with dementia, by means of a secondary analysis of Minimum Data Set assessment data on long-term care from nursing homes based in Florida collected between January 1st 2009 and December 31st 2009. Pain, wandering, aggression, agitation, cognitive impairment, activities of daily living impairments, and demographic characteristics were examined.
It was found that residents with more severe pain are less likely to wander but more likely to display aggressive and agitated behaviour. These findings imply that effective pain management may reduce aggression and agitation, and increase mobility in persons with dementia.
Reference
Ahn, H. Horgas, A. (2013). The relationship between pain and disruptive behaviors in nursing home resident with dementia. BMC Geriatrics, February 11th 2013, Vol.13(14), pp.1-7. (Click here to view the PubMed abstract).
[A brief reference to this item features in Dementia and Elderly Care: the Latest Evidence Newsletter (RWNHST), Volume 3 Issue 9, August 2013].
