[The Determination of Agitation Behaviors among the Elderly People Receiving Long-Term Institutional Care and the Influencing Factors].

Aim: Agitation is common among elderly people staying at nursing homes. It is a significant problem particularly for patients with dementia. This study aims to determine the agitation behaviors of elderly people receiving long-term institutional care in a city and influencing factors.

Method: The population of this descriptive and analytical study consisted of elderly individuals in three institutional care centers. 178 elderly individuals aged 60 and above were taken into the sample group. Approval was taken from them and their relatives. The study data were collected between September-November 2018 using the socio-demographic question form, the Cohen-Mansfield Agitation Inventory (CMAI), the Mini-Cog Brief Cognitive Assessment Form, the Barthel Index for Activities of Daily Living (ADL) and the Lawton&Brody Instrumental Activities of Daily Living Scale (IADL).

Results: The mean age of the participants was 75.58±8.77 and 56.7% were males. The duration of stay at the institution was 23.48±24.46 months. Although 50.6% of the participants had psychiatric diagnoses. The mean score for the CMAI for the patients with dementia was 46.26±15.10, which was significantly higher than those without dementia (Z=-2.132, p=0.033).

Conclusions: The results show agitation is high among patients with dementia and cognitive impairment affects agitation significantly.