Assessment of behavioral symptom management in demented individuals

This article is intended to stimulate interdisciplinary research by social, behavioral, and biomedical researchers to solve some of the problems for p ersons with Alzheimer disease who suffer from behavioral symptoms. We ident ify the need for using conceptually based measures that have adequate relia bility and validity to operationalize indicators of psychological well-bein g, suggest instruments to assess mood, engagement, agitation, resistiveness and comfort, and pose research questions to explore responses to active in volvement (individual or group), passive involvement, lack of activity, ave rsive activity (related to activities of daily living), and limitation of a ctivity (restraints) in persons with dementia. Answers to the research ques tions posed in this article will lead to expanded knowledge and can redefin e how we give care to those in need.