Resident characteristics associated with wandering in nursing homes

Objectives. This retrospective cohort study examined the association betwee n resident characteristics and the development of wandering behavior. Methods. Subjects included a total of 8982 residents from the states of Mis sissippi, Texas, and Vermont who had baseline and 3-month follow-up Minimum Data Set assessments between 1 January 1996 and 31 December 1997. Results. Residents who had a short-term memory problem (Odds Ratio (OR) = 3 .05), had pneumonia (OR = 3.15), asked repetitive questions (OR = 2.19), ha d a long-term memory problem (OR = 2.06), exhibited dementia (OR = 19.4), c onstipation (OR = 1.82), expressed sadness or pain (OR = 1.65), and used an tipsychotic medication (OR = 1.70), were at an increased risk for developin g wandering behavior compared to residents without these characteristics. R esidents with functional impairment(OR = 0.28) and women(OR = 0.61)were les s likely to develop wandering behavior. Conclusions. Results of this study may be useful in constructing causal the ories for the development of wandering behavior. Copyright (C) 2000 John Wi ley & Sons, Ltd.