Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T22:31:44.198Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The effectiveness of control strategies for dementia-driven wandering, preventing escape attempts: a case report

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 November 2012

Daniel Valle Padilla ,
María Teresa Daza González ,
Inmaculada Fernández Agis ,
Jenna Strizzi  and
Raquel Alarcón Rodríguez
Daniel Valle Padilla
Affiliation:
Centro de Evaluación y Rehabilitación Neuropsicológica (CERNEP), Universidad de Almería, Almería, Spain
María Teresa Daza González*
Affiliation:
Centro de Evaluación y Rehabilitación Neuropsicológica (CERNEP), Universidad de Almería, Almería, Spain Departamento de Neurociencia y Ciencias de la Salud, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad de Almería, Almería, Spain
Inmaculada Fernández Agis
Affiliation:
Centro de Evaluación y Rehabilitación Neuropsicológica (CERNEP), Universidad de Almería, Almería, Spain Departamento de Neurociencia y Ciencias de la Salud, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad de Almería, Almería, Spain
Jenna Strizzi
Affiliation:
Centro de Evaluación y Rehabilitación Neuropsicológica (CERNEP), Universidad de Almería, Almería, Spain
Raquel Alarcón Rodríguez
Affiliation:
Departamento de Neurociencia y Ciencias de la Salud, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad de Almería, Almería, Spain
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: María Teresa Daza González, PhD, Departamento de Neurociencia y Ciencias de la Salud, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad de Almería, 04120 Almería, Spain. Phone: +34-950214623; Fax: +34-950214383. Email: tdaza@ual.es.
Get access

Abstract

One of the most complicated aspects of caring for patients with dementia is dementia-driven wandering due to its adverse ramifications. We report a case of an 80-year-old man who had been previously diagnosed with dementia (with a score of 6 on the Reisberg Global Deterioration Scale – GDS). The patient went to an Adult Day Care Center on a daily basis where he demonstrated wandering behavior with a high rate of escape attempts (the number of times the Center's glass exit door was approached). The objective of this study is to present effective non-pharmacological intervention strategies for dementia-driven wandering; assessed strategies included: environmental (subjective barriers), cognitive/behavioral (cognitive training with differential reinforcement), and combined (subjective barriers + cognitive/behavioral). The results showed that all of these three strategies significantly decreased the number of escape attempts.

Keywords

wanderingdementiasubjective barrierscognitive/behavioral intervention
Type
Case Report
Information
International Psychogeriatrics , Volume 25 , Issue 3 , March 2013 , pp. 500 - 504
Copyright
Copyright © International Psychogeriatric Association 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alexopoulos, G. A., Abrams, R. C., Young, R. C. and Shamoian, C. A. (1988). Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia. Biological Psychiatry, 23, 271–284.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Algase, D. L., Beattie, E. R., Song, J. A., Mike, D., Duffield, C. and Cowan, B. (2004). Validation of the Algase Wandering Scale (Version 2) in a cross cultural sample. Aging and Mental Health, 8, 133–142.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Algase, D., Moore, D., Vandeweerd, C. and Gavindreschnack, D. (2007). Mapping the maze of terms and definitions in dementia-related wandering. Aging and Mental Health, 11, 686–698.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
ColtharpW., Jr. W., Jr., Richie, F. and Kaas, M. (1996). Wandering. Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 22, 5–10.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Heard, K. and Watson, S. (1999). Reducing wandering by persons with dementia using differential reinforcement. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 32, 381–384.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hussian, R. and Brown, D. (1987). Use of two-dimensional grid patterns to limit hazardous ambulation in demented patients. Journal of Gerontology, 42, 558–560.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lai, K. and Arthur, D. (2003). Wandering behavior in people with dementia. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 44, 173–182.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lawton, M. P. and Brody, E. M. (1969). Assessment of older people: self-maintaining and instrumental activities of daily living. Gerontologist, 9, 179–186.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Livingston, G., Johnston, K., Katona, C., Paton, J. and Lyketsos, G. (2005). Systematic review of psychological approaches to the management of neuropsychiatric symptoms of dementia. American Journal of Psychiatry, 162, 1996–2021.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mahoney, F. I. and Barthel, D. W. (1965). Functional evaluation: the Barthel Index. Maryland State Medical Journal, 14, 61–65.Google ScholarPubMed
Price, J., Hermans, D. and Grimley, E. (2000). Subjective barriers to prevent wandering of cognitively impaired people. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 4, Art. No. CD001932.Google Scholar