THE EFFECTS OF AN ENHANCED ENVIRONMENT ON NURSING-HOME RESIDENTS WHO PACE

This study sought to enhance the well-being of older nursing home resi dents who pace and wander by enriching their nursing home environment. Visual, auditory, and olfactory stimuli were added to the nursing hom e unit environment to simulate two types of environments: a home envir onment and an outdoor nature environment. Participants seemed to prefe r the enhanced environments by choosing to spend more time in them, an d by sitting on benches in those environments. There was a trend towar d less trespassing, exit-seeking, and other agitated behaviors being e xhibited in the enhanced environment, and residents were observed to m anifest more pleasure in it. Staff members and family members definite ly expressed a preference for the enhanced environment over the regula r one. Although effects on residents were limited, this approach offer s a low-cost method for making the nursing home environment a better p lace for those residents.