Taxonomy of evening and nighttime behavior patterns of persons with Alzheimer's disease

Abstract

Among the many symptoms associated with Alzheimer's disease, disrupted nighttime sleep has been identified as one of the most troublesome. Frequently disrupted sleep, as well as nighttime wandering, determines whether or not the person is able to remain within his/her home or must be institutionalized. The first step toward altering disrupted sleep is to gain an understanding of the associated behavior patterns. The purposes of this research were to:

• Describe - based on family care provider reports, the evening and nighttime behavior patterns of persons diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease; and

• Develop a taxonomy that characterized the identified patterns.

Data were collected using a guided interview format. Eleven care providers were interviewed at length and asked to respond to open-ended questions. Themes and categories were identified including two major, four minor and 10 sub-categories. In addition, precipitating events that triggered, intensified or accelerated the behavior patterns were identified. These data will be used to develop an instrument designed to quantify the behaviors associated with sleep disruption. This will allow for evaluation of care provider burden as well as the effect of interventions designed to enhance the sleep/rest of persons with Alzheimer's disease.