Assessment and Treatment Approaches for Behavioral Disturbances Associated With Dementia in the Nursing Home: Self-Reports of Physicians' Practices

The data underscore the complexity in the treatment of behavior problems. Despite federal regulations limiting their use, the potential for side effects, and ambivalence toward such treatment, psychotropic drugs are still used for the majority of nursing home residents with behavior problems associated with dementia. On the other hand, physicians report employing nonpharmacological methods to a closely similar extent, although their role in the implementation of these treatments is less clear. Further work is needed to clarify physicians' involvement in and decision to use nonpharmacological interventions.