Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-2005

Publication Title

American Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Dementias

Volume

20

Issue Number

3

First Page

171

Last Page

179

DOI

10.1177/153331750502000314

Disciplines

Psychology

Abstract

Adult day services (ADS) are an increasingly popular option for caregivers of people with dementia, but there is little research on the effects of activities on the behavior and mood of the client. This study examines participation by 94 individuals in different types of adult day-care activities and their association with changes in behavior and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) for the client during a three-month span. Three domains of BPSD were examined: restless behaviors, mood behaviors, and positive behaviors. Using growth curve modeling, results show that the restless and mood behavior domains, on average, were stable over three months, whereas positive behaviors increased. For all three behavior domains there were individual differences in average level of BPSD. Average rate of change for individuals also varied from the mean for restless and mood behaviors. Physical activities, social activities, engaging activities, and watching and listening activities, along with a day-care dosage variable, were used as covariates to explain these individual differences in change. Engaging activities explained some of the individual variance for restless behaviors; as individuals increased one increment in engaging activities, they had fewer restless behavior problems over time. These results suggest that some features of programming may be related to improvements in restless behavior.

Comments

Copyright © 2005 SAGE Publications. The published version of the article may be found online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/153331750502000314 .

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