Objective: This paper reports the effects on challenging (agitated) behaviours, such as aggression, noisiness and wandering, when persons with dementia were relocated to a special unit.
Methods: The study was a simple interrupted time series quasi‐experimental design. The dependent variable was agitated behaviour and the independent variables were residing in an old unit and in a Special Care Unit (SCU). Twenty‐two persons with dementia from a nursing home were involved in this study. Subjects were assessed weekly for 1 month prior to the move to the SCU and weekly for 1 month at 3 and 6 months after the move. Data were entered into SPSS software and analysed.
Results: The most significant results from the study were that the verbally agitated behaviour of the subjects was reduced and sustained throughout the 6 months of the study after their move into a SCU.
Conclusions: This study has shown that environmental design does impact positively in the care of persons with dementia.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.