Wandering in Dementia

ABSTRACT

Wandering is acknowledged as one of the most complex, challenging, and potentially dangerous dementia-related behaviors, and can result in elopement, injury, and even death. For the healthy people, walking is a common and a pleasurable leisure activity. However, wandering in dementia may be an exhausting behavior for caregivers and raise safety concerns. The term 'wandering' covers different types of behavior, including aimless movement without a discernible purpose. Although with respect to the etiology of wandering, biological, psychosocial and person-environment interaction has been suggested, the etiology of wandering is poorly understood. Although it is possible that management of coexistent psychopathology would help to ameliorate this problematic behavior, evidence on the effectiveness of pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions is limited.