Losing hope or keep searching for a golden solution: an in-depth exploration of experiences with extreme challenging behavior in nursing home residents with dementia.

Background: Situations of extreme challenging behavior such as very frequent and/or severe agitation or physical aggression in nursing home residents with dementia can be experienced as an impasse by nursing home staff and relatives. In this distinct part of our WAALBED (WAAL-Behavior-in-Dementia)-III study, we aimed to explore these situations by obtaining the experiences and perspectives of nursing home staff and relatives involved. This can provide a direction in providing tools for handling extreme challenging behavior of nursing home residents with dementia and may improve their quality of life.

Continuous Palliative Sedation in Nursing Home Residents With Dementia and Refractory Neuropsychiatric Symptoms.

Objectives: Extreme neuropsychiatric symptoms can be a heavy burden for nursing home (NH) residents, relatives, and caregivers. Sometimes, when extreme neuropsychiatric symptoms are considered refractory, continuous palliative sedation is administered. The aim of this study was to explore the trajectory leading to continuous palliative sedation and its administration in NH residents with dementia and refractory neuropsychiatric symptoms.

Very frequent physical aggression and vocalizations in nursing home residents with dementia.

Objectives: We investigated the 2-week prevalence and correlates of very frequent physical aggression (PA) and vocalizations in nursing home (NH)-residents with dementia.

Method/design: This cross-sectional study used combined data of 2074 NH-residents from four studies, collected from 119 dementia special care units in 26 Dutch NH. Very frequent PA was defined as scoring 6 or 7 on the items 'hitting', pushing', 'biting' and 'kicking' of the Cohen Mansfield Agitation Inventory; very frequent vocalizations as scoring 6 or 7 on 'screaming' and 'making strange noises'.

Nursing Home Residents with Dementia and Very Frequent Agitation: A Particular Group.

Objective: Although many nursing home residents with dementia show agitation, hardly any literature is published about very frequent agitation. The WAALBED-III study focuses on the 2-week prevalence and correlates of very frequent agitation in these residents.

Design: Cross-sectional study using combined data of four studies.