The staff at St Peter’s Residence at Chedoke need help finding a better solution to prevent residents from wandering into other residents’ rooms. Many of the residents suffer from Alzheimer disease or a related dementia (reports from long-term care institutions range from 11–24% [1]) and numerous experts agree that all people with dementia are at high risk for wandering due to their cognitive deficits and unpredictable behaviour [2]. The client (staff at St Peter’s Residence at Chedoke) has implemented an under-performing ad hoc solution that needs to be improved or replaced in order to reduce the occurrences of wanderers entering residents’ rooms.
In order to develop a device that can be used to solve this problem, the psychological state of the wanderers must be understood. Dementia is defined as a clinical syndrome caused by a wide range of diseases that affect the brain. It is not a natural part of aging, but rather a symptom of a disease process. The majority of individuals with dementia experience emotional distress or behavioral problems as a result of a decline in cognition; the behavior is best described by the term agitation [3]. …show more content…
Dementia develops when parts of the brain associated with the cognitive functions are affected by any of various vascular, neurological, infectious, or metabolic diseases. The most common cause of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease (AD), and it is estimated that as many as 50% to 75% of individuals who suffer from dementia have AD [5]. Vascular dementia has until recently been considered responsible for most remaining cases of dementia, occurring either alone or in association with AD
In order to develop a device that can be used to solve this problem, the psychological state of the wanderers must be understood. Dementia is defined as a clinical syndrome caused by a wide range of diseases that affect the brain. It is not a natural part of aging, but rather a symptom of a disease process. The majority of individuals with dementia experience emotional distress or behavioral problems as a result of a decline in cognition; the behavior is best described by the term agitation [3]. …show more content…
Dementia develops when parts of the brain associated with the cognitive functions are affected by any of various vascular, neurological, infectious, or metabolic diseases. The most common cause of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease (AD), and it is estimated that as many as 50% to 75% of individuals who suffer from dementia have AD [5]. Vascular dementia has until recently been considered responsible for most remaining cases of dementia, occurring either alone or in association with AD