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Aggression among nursing home residents, including verbal and physical abuse, is more common than once thought, according to a recent study conducted by Cornell University.
An online report with McKnight's Long Term Care News claims numerous observations made at a city-based nursing home found at least 35 different types of abuse. Screaming was said to be the most frequent form of abuse, followed by various acts of physical violence such as pushing, punching and fighting.
In a separate 2-week study, researchers said they learned 2.4 percent of residents claimed they had been victims of physical aggression while 7.3 percent claimed they were subjected to verbal abuse, McKnight's reports. A third investigation in which 12 nurses participated as observers uncovered 30 incidents of aggression between residents in one 8-hour shift. Victims were most commonly male and often had wandering cognitive processing problems, McKnight's reports.
"Because of the nature of nursing home life, it is impossible to eliminate these abusive behaviors entirely, but we need better scientific evidence about what works to prevent this problem," said Karl Pillemer, director of the Cornell Institute for Translational Research on Aging at the College of Human Ecology.Â
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