The purpose of this study is to identify factors that result in the behavioral symptom of agitation manifested as resistance to the Activity of Daily Living (ADL): bathing, in nursing home residents with Alzheimer's Disease or related disorders (AD).
The aims are to (a) identify factors that trigger responses of verbal and physical resistance in nursing home residents with dementia during bathing and (b) isolate management techniques used by caregivers that effectively reduce resistance. Specific research questions to be addressed include: 1. What is the nature of the resistance during the different components of bathing: undressing, transfer, immersion, washing, drying, dressing? 2. What is the relationship of resident characteristics to the nature of the resistance? 3. What is the relationship of caregiver characteristics to the nature of the resistance? 4. Is there a differential impact of type of dementia, (Alzheimer's Disease (AD) or Multi Infarct Dementia (MID)), and stage of dementia on resistance? 5. What environmental characteristics before and during the bathing activity impact on resistance? 6. What caregiver management techniques lessen resistance? Data will be collected using geriatric cognitive and functional assessment instruments, timed observations of the components of bathing, structured interviews of caregivers, and from records. Relations among the variables will be examined using simple correlational procedures and multivariate techniques. Descriptive statistics will be used to characterize the sample. Multivariate techniques will be used to assess relationships among the study variables.
