The Experience of Nursing Staff on the Dementia Patients' Aggressive Behavior

Oh, Jin Joo

Abstract

Providing care to the dementia elderly with behavioral problem is a major issue in nursing homes today. This study was aimed to explore the nursing staffs' response to aggressive dementia patients, and the effect that the aggressive behavior had on Nsgstaff. The interviews used a semi-structured questionnaire are were carried out from May to July, 1999. The subjects were 23 nursing personnel working in the nursing homes for dementia elderly. The result are as follows; 1. The types of aggressive behavior cited by the subjects was "physical", "linguistic", and "sexual". 2. The factors that caused the behavior were "symptoms of disease", "under- conditioning", "context of nursing care", "unsatisfied need", "relationship to other patients", "change of outer environment", and "invasion of one's own privacy". 3. The response of the subjects were "unhappiness", "stress", "anger", "exaggeration", "anxiety", and "fear". 4. The management strategies listed by nursing personnel used to alleviate aggressive behavior were "ignorance" "patience" "leaving the area" "soothing sounds" "verbal punishment" "restriction and isolation" and "various management skill appliance" "adaptation". 5. The effect that aggressive behavior and were "disturbance of relationship to elderly" "decline in the amount and quality of nursing care" "interruption of task performance" "job exhaustion" "desire to leave the job" "physical impact" "stress on the cognition of others" "anxiety about health and one own future" "interference to family life'. The findings of this study will be useful in understanding the difficulties of nursing personnel when confronting the aggressive behavior of dementia partients. It also is useful as basic data in preparing efficient intervention program for these difficulties.