title: The relationship between vision impairment and the assessment of disruptive behaviors among nursing home residents.
abstract: This study examines the relationship between vision impairment, defined as best corrected distance acuity, and disruptive behaviors among nursing home residents (N = 89). All data were collected from nursing home records. Vision impairment was significantly related on the bivariate level to the disruptive behavior index (r = .21; p < .05). Hierarchical regression analyses, with disruptive behaviors as the criterion and age and comorbid conditions as covariates, indicate that vision status is a significant independent contributor to disruptive behaviors among long-term care residents. Several interpretations for this observed relationship are discussed, as are implications for nursing home services and future research.
authors.affiliation: Arlene R. Gordon Research Institute, The Lighthouse Inc., New York, NY 10022, USA. ahorowitz@lighthouse.org
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Horowitz
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged / Q000523:psychology*; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006707:Homes for the Aged; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009735:Nursing Homes; D012920:Social Behavior Disorders / Q000150:complications* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D014786:Vision Disorders / Q000523:psychology*