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One-half shows signs of dementia
Mental Health Problems Higher Than Expected Among
Assisted Living Residents
Sept. 27, 2004 – Two thirds of people in assisted
living residents may suffer from mental health problems, according to a
new large-scale study. The authors says this is much higher than they
expected to find.
The study which, appears in the October issue of
the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, reports that half of
2100 assisted living residents studied suffered from dementia and a
quarter exhibited indicators of depression.
More than half the assisted living residents
studied took psychotropic medications including antipsychotics,
antidepressants or sedatives.
"These findings, that the rate of mental health
problems in the assisted living population is as high as the rate of
mental health problems in nursing home patients, and much higher than
the 6 to 7 percent of individuals with depression or dementia found in
the age 65 and older population seen by primary care physicians is
rather surprising," said study co-author Malaz Boustani, M.D., assistant
professor of medicine at the Indiana University School of Medicine and
Regenstrief Institute, Inc. research scientist.
"Now that we know that a significant proportion of
assisted living residents have mental health problems, we need to work
with assisted living residents, administrators, healthcare providers,
policy makers and advocates to ensure that these facilities can
accommodate their residents without over-medicating. And we don't want
to repeat the overregulation errors we have made with nursing home
care," he said.
Dr. Boustani and his fellow researchers studied a
random sample of assisted living residents at 193 facilities in four
states, interviewing the residents, observing them within their
environment, reviewing their medical charts, and talking with their
health care providers. The residents lived in three types of assisted
living environments – "mom and pop" operations (16 or less residents and
not part of a chain), nursing home-like facilities and hotel-like
facilities with active social programs.
Dr. Boustani collegeagues found that over a third
of all the assisted living residents they studied had actual behavioral
problems. These included:
22 percent demonstrated verbal behavioral symptoms
such as constant humming, or repeating questions
20 percent exhibited physical behavioral problems
such as wandering, pacing, restlessness or hoarding
13 percent had aggressive behavior problems such as
hitting, throwing objects or spitting at others.
Type of assisted living environment appeared to be
statistically insignificant except that residents of "mom and pop"
facilities had more aggressive behavior problems.
"Now that we know that a significant proportion of
assisted living residents have mental health problems, we need to work
with assisted living residents, administrators, healthcare providers,
policy makers and advocates to ensure that these facilities can
accommodate their residents without over-medicating," Dr. Boustani said.
"And we don't want to repeat the overregulation errors we have made with
nursing home care."
The researchers studied a random sample of assisted
living residents at 193 facilities in four states, interviewing the
residents, observing them within their environment, reviewing their
medical charts, and talking with their health care providers. The
residents lived in three types of assisted living environments – "mom
and pop" operations (16 or less residents and not part of a chain),
nursing home-like facilities and hotel-like facilities with active
social programs.
"When we tried to find risk factors for these
behaviors we found that those individuals with depression, dementia, or
functional dependency such as inability to walk without assistance were
at higher risk for demonstrating behavioral problems," he said.
"Clinicians need to change how we look at assisted living residents,"
Dr. Boustani added. "We don't need to institutionalize them – we should
accommodate them." said Dr. Boustani.
Copyright: SeniorJournal.com |
