WANDERING BEHAVIOR OF OLDER PEOPLE IN NURSING HOMES: A STUDY OF HYPERACTIVITY, DISORIENTATION AND THE SPATIAL ENVIRONMENT (AGING, RESTRAINT, INSTITUTION).
Contributors: City University of New York.
Published: 1985
Number of pages: 441
Subjects: Gerontology.
Description: This is a report of three empirical studies of older nursing home residents who wander: (1) a short-answer survey of 170 randomly selected nursing homes in 8 states, focused on definitions, causes and interventions; (2) open-ended definitions of wandering from 120 conference participants; and (3) on-site comparisons and observation of 15 wanderers and non-wanderers.

Wandering posed problems for 62% of the institutions and resulted in "serious consequences" for 79% of these, though less than 2% of residents have runaway within three months. Five percent of the elderly per institution paced, seven percent roamed and five percent attempted to leave. Over half of the staff believe wandering has no goal or purpose. This was not supported by actual cases, where goals were identified for 13/15. Case data suggested patterns of wandering based upon (1) agitation level, (2) wayfinding competence, and (3) intent. Smaller facilities reported proportionately more wanderers than did larger ones which may be a function of the use of significantly more restraints in the larger facilities. Higher incidences of attempts to leave, episodes of runaways and of disorientation were reported in custodial vs. rehabilitation oriented facilities.

Only 7% of the respondents felt that the best outcome of this type of research would be to "stop" wandering behavior. However, what staff members reported that they did differed significantly from what they thought best in preventing wandering. Some of the most commonly reported interventions were: taking people on walks (79%), door buzzers (76%), enclosed courts (67%), body holders (63%) and geriatric wheelchairs (63%). Only 18% used neither geriatric wheelchairs nor restraining belts or vests. There was less consensus on what was best. For example, two-thirds use Reality Orientation or Remotivation groups, only 40% believe these the best means of preventing wandering. Few institutions (5%) used new technologies to monitor individual wanderers. Only three innovative programs were identified from the 700+ surveys mailed and only ten percent of the homes assessed wanderers.

The findings suggested variables for future studies and researchers are urged to study wanderers cared for at home.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 46-11, Section: A, page: 3460.

Thesis (PH.D.)--CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK, 1985.

School code: 0046.