• Perspectives in Nursing Science
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.35-45
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• 2006

In Korea, about 8.3% over aged 65 are suffering from Alzheimer's disease or other type of dementia. Among dementia-related behaviors, wandering is the one of strongest factors on burden and stress of caregivers. On Lee and Kwon's report with community living persons with dementia, upto 85% of caregivers reported wandering as a problem. Wandering is a frequently encountered problem in communities and long-term care facilities, but it is among least understood dementia. related behavior. Despite the prevalence of wandering, its significant adverse outcomes, and the increase in persons with dementia in Korea, no systematic research has been conducted in Korea. The purpose of this study is to review on literature related to wandering behavior among persons with dementia. The specific topics related to wandering are included: definition, the prevalence of dementia and wandering behavior, the influencing factor on wandering, outcomes of wandering behavior, and the measurement method. Wandering is defined as "aimless walking" and "Meandering, aimless or repetitive locomotion that exposes one to harm and is incongruent with boundaries, limits, or obstacles". Wandering is viewed as a problematic behavior, however, it has to be understood as need-driven compromised behavior. For example, wandering may be an expression of searching for familiar person and/or place. Recently, in Korea, there is an effort for establishing the therapeutic environment for elders who are wanderers in long-term-care facilities. Cognitive impairment of persons with dementia is found to be a consistent factor on wandering behavior through many national and international studies. The adverse outcomes of wandering are serious problem in persons with dementia as well as their caregivers. The adverse outcomes include falls, fractures, getting lost, use of restraints, or even death. In fact, wandering is one of the major reasons for a patient to be institutionalized. For measurement of wandering behavior, two methods are broadly used: observation using stop watch, and survey form. A revised instrument of the Korean version of Algase wandering scale (K_RAWS) is established the psychometric properties (Son, Song, & Lim, 2006) demonstrating valid and reliable instrument in measuring wandering behavior among persons with dementia who are residing in communities. K_RAWS has a 39 items with six subscales including persistent walking, repetitive walking, spatial disorientation, eloping behavior, negative outcome, and mealtime impulsivity. In conclusion, studies including the prevalence of wandering behavior and predictive factors on wandering should be conducted to understand wandering clearly before developing any types of intervention.

• Architectural research
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.11-16
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• 1999

Wandering behavior is a serious problem among the elderly in nursing homes, yet it has received relatively little study by those interested in gerontology. The research that has been done has generally regarded wandering behavior as an aimless, directionless movement. Only a few studies have addressed the problem after first assuming that wanderers have a goal to their movement, and fewer still have explored the role of the physical environment on the wanderer's behavior. None have combined the two approaches. In this paper, the physical environment will be looked at for support of the theory of wandering as a goal seeking behavior. In a pilot study using behavior maps, the movements of wanderers and non-wanderers are analyzed and compared for the amount of visual access and exposure their locations contain. While the behavioral implications of these two measurements are considered, the limitations of the results are also discussed, so that their relationship to the cause of wandering behavior may be better understood. By implying that wandering is not a totally aimless but purposeful behavior at least in the subconscious level, constructive design implications can be suggested that would make wandering a more pleasant experience for the wanderer and increase the ease of the nursing home staffs management of the problem.

• The Korean Journal of Rehabilitation Nursing
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.9-17
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• 2013

Purpose: This study was to evaluate the effects of aromatherapy and foot reflex massage on emotion, sleep disturbance and wandering behavior in older adults with dementia. Methods: This is a quasi-experimental study with a non-equivalent control group. A total of 39 participants were divided into two groups. Aromatherapy and foot reflex massage was administrated to experimental group (N=19). There was no treatment for the control group (N=20). Data were analyzed using the SPSS/Win 18.0 program. Results: Experimental group showed significant differences in emotion, sleep disturbance and wandering behavior in comparison to the control group. Conclusion: The results showed that aromatherapy and foot reflex massage program was effective on emotion, sleep and decreasing a wandering behavior in older adults with dementia. This research suggests that aromatherapy and foot reflex massage could be recommended as a nursing intervention for enhancing quality of life in older adults with dementia.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.29-38
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• 2008

Purpose: This study investigated various factors relatied to wandering behavior of Korean elders with dementia (KED). Methods: A sample of 160 ambulatory residents with dementia from 14 long term care facilities was used to examine demographic, individual, cognitive, physical health, and environmental characteristics by comparing wanderers (N=108) to nonwanders (N=52). Subjects were evaluated by Korean versions of the Mini-mental State Exam (K-MMSE), the Physical and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (K-PIADL), and the Revised Algase Wandering Scale Nursing Home version (KRAWS-NH) along its six dimensions. Demographic and environmental data were also obtained. Independent sample t-tests, Chi-square test, Fisher's Exact tests, and ANCOVAs were used to examine differences between wanderers and nonwanders. Results: Wanderers were significantly (p<.05) older and had more limitations in K-PADL and K-IADL. The degree of overall wandering and certain features of wandering were significantly different (p<.05) by total number of residents in the facility, type of bedroom (i.e., "Ondol"), and color of bedroom and living-room walls (i.e., sky blue). Conclusions: Findings of this study may be useful in understanding wandering behavior of KEDs and thus developing more culturally specific management strategies.

• Journal of The Korea Institute of Healthcare Architecture
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.9-23
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• 2015

Purpose: This paper's main objective is to provide a systematic review of research evidence that articulates the impact of environment-related factors on wandering for people with dementia in the Long-term Care Facilities. Another objective of this study is to identify design implications that can be incorporated into design process and decisions to positively improve wandering abilities for people with dementia. Methods: Comprehensive literature review has been performed to investigate empirical studies and peer-reviewed articles published in many different fields including psychology, architecture, nursing to gerontology. Results: The review found studies that identified environment-related factors, affecting wandering for people with Dementia living in Long-term Care Facilities. Implications: The findings can help us understand wandering behavior and the recommendations in this research can serve as parts of considerations in practice that can help efficiently manage wandering abilities of people with dementia living in Long-term Care Facilities. Further studies with larger samples and various environmental conditions are required to confirm the findings in this study.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.11 no.12
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• pp.495-505
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• 2013

This study aims to evaluate the effects of aromatherapy and a foot reflex massage program on the cognition, anxiety, aggressive behavior, and wandering behavior of elderly with dementia. The research design was a non-equivalent control group, quasi-experimental study where 43 subjects were divided into two groups. Aromatherapy and foot reflex massage was administered to the experimental group (N=21), and no treatment was administered to the control group (N=22). The data was analyzed using the ${\chi}^2$-test, t-test, while the repeated measures of ANOVA were utilized with the SPSS/Win 18.0 program. The experimental group did not show significant differences in cognitive function; however, it showed significant differences in anxiety, aggressive behavior, and wandering behavior in relation to the control group. Thus this research suggests aromatherapy and a foot reflex massage program as nursing intervention to improve the quality of life of elderly with dementia.

• The Journal of Korean society of community based occupational therapy
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.85-96
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• 2012

Objective : The purpose of this study was to effects of the Participation in physical group occupational therapy on cognitive function, neuropsychiatric, social behavior in elderly with wandering dementia. Methods : Thirteen elderly with wandering dementia who live in nursing home in this study. Assessment tools were made by using Cognitive function scale(CFS), Algase Wandering Scale-V2(AWS-2), Neuropsychiatric Inventory-Questionaire(NPI-Q), social-behavioral function measure(SBFM). physical group occupational therapy performed for forty minute, once a week for 9weeks. the assessment tools were made twice: before, after the intervention. Results : Significant differences between pre-treatment and post-treatment were found in the AWS(p<0.05) score and SBFM(p<0.05) score, NPI-Q behabioral and psychological level(p<0.05) score. The cognitive function and neuropsychiatric number showed improvement. but score was not significantly(p>0.05) difference after physical group occupational therapy Conclusion : The findings suggest that the physical group occupational therapy used in this study may be helpful and effectiveness in elderly with wandering dementia, further studies with more subjects and longer treatment period, including will be performed to justify these findings.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.44 no.10
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• pp.35-45
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• 2006

The purpose of this study was to investigate preschoolers' entry behaviors into a play group and the responses of the play group in relation to the structural characteristics of the group in a natural situation. The entry behaviors of 43 preschoolers and the responses of the play group were time-sampled. In addition the structural characteristics, including size and sex composition of the play group, and existence of a friend in the group, were checked. The following results were obtained. (1) The subjects used frequently participating behavior and wandering behavior among their entry behaviors. The wandering behavior increased and the participating behavior decreased as the size of the play group increased. Also, the subjects used wandering behaviors in the mixed group more than in the same-sex group or opposite-sex group. There was no difference in the entry behaviors according to the existence of a friend in the group. (2) The play group ignored 56% of the entry behaviors, and accepted 38% of them. The positive response of the group increased with decreasing size of the play group, whereas the entry bids were increasingly ignored as the size of the group increased. The mixed group ignored the entry bids more than the same-sex or opposite-sex group did. Also, in the presence of a friend in the group, the play group responded more positively than the group with no friend did.

• Journal of Korea Multimedia Society
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• v.16 no.9
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• pp.1089-1097
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• 2013

The applications for considering their position and daily patterns of dementia patients have been developed in an early stage even if the older patients who have weaker or serious symptoms has increased in various forms. In this paper, we develop an android-based application which displays positions and pathways of patients on maps and provide messages in the cases of dangerous situations. Guardians need to register schedules including safe areas and personal information of their patients. This system registers behavior status categorized as normal or abnormal each position which is sent to a database. In particular, the deviation status is assigned in case the patients are not within the safe areas that their guardians registered on their schedule. The wandering status is assigned in case the patients are repeatedly passed by their pathways. This smart application contains the modules such as patient position sending, guardian and patient information, patient schedule and safe zone registration, position and behavior status registration, pathway display and message sending, and rescue request. This system sends the notification and alarm service providing normal and abnormal behavior with deviation and wandering status of patients respectively.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.1-13
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• 2003

The purpose of this study is to understand the importance of exterior environments and to identify the design guidelines for the therapeutic garden for cognitively impaired seniors with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. The data was collected from 4 Adult Day Care Centers, 2 Nursing Homes, & 1 Assisted living in the U.S.A. from 2001 to 2002 by interview and the floor plan about the outdoor space. Although some may believe that patients with Alzheimer's disease and related disorders are unresponsive to environment, evidence shows that environments especially designed for cognitively impaired seniors can maintain or increase their level of functioning. The use of specially designed exterior environments nay have in reducing incidents of aggressive behavior, and contributing significantly to a wanderer management program. The checklist includes 6 dimensions： safety environment, various sensual stimulations, social interactions, wandering, privacy, and support orientation and reality. The results indicated that the exterior environment have to support wandering behavior, orientation and reality.