Abstract
Objectives: Analysis of a relationship between wandering and involvement in meaningful activities in nursing home residents with cognitive impairment.Design: Cross-sectional analysis of the Minimum Data Set information.Setting: The analyses were conducted on 8 nursing homes in the Netherlands.Participants: The participants were residents aged 65 years and above with an evidence of cognitive impairment.Measurements: Items in the Minimum Data Set related to wandering behavior, involvement in activities, presence of psychotic symptoms, and treatment with antipsychotics. Ambulatory residents who exhibited wandering were divided into: those whose behavior was easily altered [modifiable wandering (MW)] and those whose wandering behavior was not easily altered by the staff [nonmodifiable wandering (NMW)].
The duration of time for which they had opportunity to be involved in meaningful activities was estimated from involvement in activities of nonambulatory residents.Results: The prevalence of wandering increased with severity of cognitive impairment. MW was present in 3.5% of total residents (8.5% of ambulatory), whereas NMW was present in 11.2% of the total ambulatory and nonambulatory residents (26.6% of ambulatory).
The risk of NMW was increased with resistiveness to care and decreased with antipsychotic use. Individuals with NMW were less involved in activities.
NMW was more prevalent in facilities in which residents were involved in activities for a shorter duration.Conclusions: Involvement of residents in meaningful activities should be tested for reducing the incidence of problematic wandering and for decrease in usage of antipsychotic medications.