Agitated behaviors among elderly people with dementia living in their home in Taiwan

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Limited research has been conducted on agitated behavior in Taiwan and dementia among community-dwelling elderly. Therefore, this study focused on community elderly with dementia and a factor analysis of an inventory of their agitated behaviors was conducted. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Participants (N=221) completed the Chinese Cohen-Mansfield Agitation Inventory, community form. Item analysis and exploratory factor analysis assessed reliability, validity, and the underlying factor structure. RESULTS: Five factors were extracted and accounted for 44.53% of the total variance. This study classified agitated behaviors into 5 main subtypes: physically agitated behaviors, destructive behaviors, verbally agitated behaviors, handling things behavior, and aggressive behaviors. CONCLUSION: The results indicate that differences in the agitated behavior of elderly with dementia exist with respect to cultural background and setting. This novel research and its findings serve as a reference for assessing the agitated behaviors of elderly with dementia living in their homes. Applications may exist for other countries with Chinese/Taiwanese populations.