Caring for residents with dementia and aggressive behavior: impact of life history knowledge.

Aggressive behavior is a frequent occurrence in the care of individuals with dementia. In this pilot study, the authors explored the impact of sharing patients' life histories with staff on four patients' aggression and interviewed nursing staff and families to determine the impact that developing and learning about the life history had on them. There was some evidence of decrease in aggression among the patients who demonstrated frequent aggressive behavior at baseline.