Abstract
Objective
To investigate nursing home residents with psychiatric diagnoses who wander and who are not diagnosed with dementia.
Method
A national crossβsectional study was conducted in a male Veterans Administration Nursing Home Care Unit population using a retrospective review of the MDS.
Results
Eleven thousand six hundred and nineteen residents were identified as having a psychiatric diagnosis without significant cognitive impairment; just under 1% (nβ=β113) wandered. Using rare events logit regression, we determined that a diagnosis of schizophrenia/bipolar disorder or comorbid psychiatric conditions were associated with increased risk of wandering compared to residents diagnosed with anxiety/depression. Psychiatric wanderers were also more likely to, have symptoms of delirium, exhibit socially inappropriate behavior, manifest problems in decisionβmaking, take antiβpsychotic medications, and to be more independent in locomotion.
Conclusions
Psychiatric wanderers may be conceptualized better as exhibiting ambulatory concomitants of unremitted neurological/psychiatric symptoms or medication side effects of their treatment. Findings have implications for addressing treatable causes of wandering. Copyright Β© 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.