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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| Elopement among community-dwelling older adults with dementia | | Author(s) | Jenny C C Chung, Claudia K Y Lai |
| Journal title | International Psychogeriatrics, vol 23, no 1, February 2011 |
| Pages | pp 65-72 |
| Source | http://www.journals.cambridge.org/ipg |
| Keywords | Wandering ; Dementia ; Preventative medicine. |
| Annotation | Elopement - leaving one's dwelling unescorted - by older adults with dementia not only creates stress for the family but puts eloping persons at risk through getting lost or injured, primarily because of their impaired judgment and problem-solving ability. This study aimed to examine patterns of elopement incidents, search processes and subsequent prevention strategies and to explore factors that predict elopement among community-dwellers with dementia. 20 subjects with a recent history of elopement and 25 subjects without any history of elopement completed the study. Their cognitive status, dementia severity and behavioural manifestations were evaluated. Family informants were interviewed to gather data on demographic characteristics, clinical conditions, caring patterns, lifestyle, history of elopement, and information about any elopement incidents. Two-thirds of subjects had moderate severity of dementia. The elopers did not differ from the non-elopers in demographics, caring arrangements, clinical conditions or lifestyle patterns. 80% eloped subjects had a prior history of elopement. Logistic regression analyses suggested that manifestation of behavioural symptoms predicted elopement. Analysis of the 68 elopement incidents revealed that the vast majority of family caregivers failed to recognise any emotional and/or behavioural clues prior to elopement. Immediate and multiple search strategies were adopted, with eloped subjects mostly found near the point last seen. The authors conclude that there is a need to enhance and sensitise caregivers' understanding of elopement as related to dementia and more effective preventive strategies. (JL). |
| Accession Number | CPA-110804004 A |
| Classmark | EPC: EA: LK2 |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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