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Abstract #150270

Diane M. Holliday-Welsh, MS-HSA, OTR/L, Charles E. Gessert, MD, MPH, and Colleen M. Renier, BS. Division of Education and Research, SMDC Health System, 400 East 3rd Street, Duluth, MN 55805-1983, 218-786-8176, cgessert@smdc.org

This was a prospective study of massage in the management of agitation in cognitively impaired nursing home residents. Methods - Subjects were identified as susceptible to agitation by nursing home staff or by Minimum Data Set (MDS) report. Subjects served as their own controls; data was collected during baseline (3 days), intervention (6 days) and at 7 and 14 day follow up. Agitation was measured with a scale using 5 MDS items: Wandering, Verbally Agitated/Abusive, Physically Agitated/Abusive, Socially Inappropriate/Disruptive, and Resists Care. Nursing home staff identified the hour when each subject was typically agitated; that hour was used for observations (whether or not the subject was agitated on the day of observation). On each day of observation, agitation was scored over a one-minute period five times during the one-hour window of observation. Results – Subjects' agitation was significantly lower during the massage intervention than at baseline (2.58 vs. 1.71, p < .001), and remained lower at follow up. Of the five agitated behaviors examined in this study, massage was associated with significant improvement for three: Wandering (0.58 vs. 0.16, p = .009), Verbally Agitated/Abusive (0.87 vs. 0.53, p = .024), and Physically Agitated/Abusive (0.85 vs. 0.71, p < .001). Baseline levels of agitation were low, as the period of observation was predetermined by prior patterns of agitation. Conclusions – Massage is an inexpensive, easily learned intervention that is effective in controlling some types of agitation in elders with cognitive impairment. Massage should be studied further as a non-pharmacological intervention in such patients.

Learning Objectives:

• Recognize the importance of behavioral problems, including agitation, in decisions to institutionalize elders with cognitive impairment.
• Describe the effect of massage on level of agitation in institutionalized elders with cognitive impairment.
• List questions about the efficacy of massage that should be addressed in future research.

Keywords: Dementia, Behavioral Research

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No
Any institutionally-contracted trials related to this submission?

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.