AGGRESSIVE AND NONAGGRESSIVE COGNITIVELY-IMPAIRED INSTITUTIONALIZED ELDERLY PATIENTS.
Contributors: University of Rochester.
Published: 1987
Number of pages: 220
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: This qualitative, exploratory investigation examined the daily lives of 27 elderly people who resided in three skilled nursing facilities. The purpose of the research was to discover similarities and differences between aggressive and nonaggressive cognitively impaired institutionalized elderly patients in order to develop hypotheses for future testing. A beginning conceptual framework, devised to guide the research process, allowed the inclusion of new data as it was discovered in the field. The explanatory models of frustration, personal space/territoriality, reactance, and physiological impairment, were discussed and examined in relation to nursing home residents and their acclimation to the environment. Ethnographic field techniques, semistructured interviews and observations were used to gain information concerning 14 aggressive participants and 13 nonaggressive participants.

Observations of the participants in the nursing home environment supported the descriptions provided by the significant others of the participants. Past life experiences impacted fully on the participant's ability to acclimate to the new environment. Cognitive impairment did not, generally, change the manner in which these participants had dealt with everyday stresses. It was found that aggressive participants were more likely to be nonverbal, very dependent on others for personal care, severely mentally impaired, isolated from everyday interaction, unpredictable in emotional states, inflexible, and inconsistent than nonaggressive participants. Nonaggressive participants were observed to be content in the new environment and involved with staff, activities, and family members. The conceptual framework was expanded and 19 hypotheses were developed for future testing.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 48-08, Section: B, page: 2265.

Thesis (PH.D.)--THE UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER, 1987.

School code: 0188.