Abstract
The present study was conducted at 10 geriatric health services facilities and included the elderly with dementia whose entire lives required careful observation. We administered a field survey to the elderly with dementia for approximately one month after they had entered the facilities using the abridged version of the support standards for the behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD), which consisted of four items: “irritability and excitement”; “drug refusal, refusal of food, and rejection”; “act of aggression (violence)”; and “unhygienic behavior.” A relationship between the difficulty and care domains was often observed for these items. However, “unhygienic behavior” in the difficulty domain was exclusively related to “irritability and excitement” in the difficulty domain, and “drug refusal, refusal of food, and rejection” in the care domain was exclusively related to “act of aggression (violence)” in the care domain. In addition, appropriate toileting support was considered effective in decreasing the frequency of “unhygienic behavior” in the care domain. With respect to “drug refusal, refusal of food, and rejection” and “act of aggression (violence)” in the care domain, it was important to provide dementia care while considering the patient as an individual. These results suggest that training care staff members at geriatric health services facilities to provide dementia care as part of a team using a unified care method could improve their ability to cope with BPSD in the elderly with dementia.
