Background: Physical restraint use is common in institutional care for old people and mainly used to prevent falls, despite the fall-preventive effect of physical restraints being questioned in previous research. The aim of the study was to investigate the use of physical restraints in Sweden in 2000 and 2007.

Methods: Data were collected from two comparable census surveys conducted in all institutional care units for old people in 2000 (n = 3,669) and 2007 (n = 2,914). Information on residents’ characteristics and physical restraint use was collected using the Multi-Dimensional Dementia Assessment Scale (MDDAS).

Results: In 2000 16.0% (95% confidence interval (CI) 14.8%–17.2%) of the residents were restrained compared to 18.2% (95% CI 16.8%–19.6%) in 2007 (p = 0.017). Adjusting for residents' characteristics showed that residents in 2007 were more likely to be physically restrained, relative to the residents in 2000 (odds ratio (OR) 1.031, 95% CI 1.005–1.058, p = 0.017). In 2007 the residents had been restrained longer, and a higher proportion were restrained for unknown reasons.

Conclusions: Physical restraint use is still common. Moreover, the findings of this study suggest a small increase (OR 1.031) in the prevalence of physical restraint use from 2000 to 2007 adjusted for residents’ characteristics.

The aim of the study is to identify criteria that frail elderly patients refer to when they appreciate the quality of care of Geriatric assessment units. Twenty-one patients recently released from six Geriatric assessment units in Montreal participated in face-to-face interviews (n = 17) or in a Focus Group (n = 4). Patients reported 56 different criteria grouped into four main dimensions of quality: the environment of care, the attitude and the technical competence of professionals and the results of care. The environment of care consists of physical resources and person related qualities. Comments on the attitude and the technical competence of professionals related mostly to the nurses and physicians. Some quality criteria reported by elderly patients are similar to those reported by patients in various acute care units while others are specific to the frailty of their condition. This study provides health care professionals with rich and useful information on how elderly patients perceive the quality of various components of care in Geriatric assessment units.

The goal of this study is to develop and validate a tool for measuring perceptions of caregivers of the quality of care and services in Geriatric Assessment Units. It has been designed so as to reproduce the notion of quality for caregivers. The validation of the tool is based on analyses of responses provided by caregivers (n = 274) to questions of perceived quality and to a certain number of questions necessary for the evaluation of its metric qualities. The measurement scale developed includes 25 items and it demonstrates good internal consistency. The Alpha Cronbach coefficients are 0.95 for the global index and they range from 0.88 to 0.91 on the sub-scales. The various analyses support a three-dimensional structure of the notion of quality for caregivers, explaining 66 per cent of the total variance. These dimensions are: “exchanges with professionals on the relative's condition,” “care given to a loved one,” and “planning the discharge”. It is hoped that this tool will promote the inclusion of the points of view of caregivers in the process of the improvement and assessment of quality.

Until now, family caregivers have been involved very little in the processes of assessing the quality of care delivered to a hospitalized relative. This study is the second phase of a broader research project whose aim is to develop measurement scales intended for elderly patients and their caregivers on their perceptions of the quality of services delivered in Geriatric Assessment Units. More specifically, the goal of this phase of the research is to document the criteria that caregivers use to judge the quality of these services: these criteria should constitute the content of the measurement scale that is intended for them. Four focus groups, bringing together 21 caregivers, allowed for the identification of 31 criteria of quality. These criteria have been classified according to six dimensions of quality: information, communication, attitude of staff, technical quality, continuity, and physical resources. The study highlights the dual concerns of participants: the well-being of the patient and support for caregivers. It shows that caregivers consider themselves to be clients of geriatric services.

Background: Many people with dementia exhibit some behavioral or psychological symptoms, e.g. aggressive or aberrant motor behavior, depression or hallucinations, at some time during the course of the disorder. The aim of the present study was to describe the probability of the occurrence of these symptoms of dementia in relation to the level of cognitive impairment.

Methods: 3404 people with cognitive impairment were selected from two large cross-sectional surveys of those in geriatric care settings, conducted in 1982 and 2000 in the county of Västerbotten, Sweden. Symptoms were assessed using the Multi-Dimensional Dementia Assessment Scale (MDDAS), subsumed with a rotated factor analysis, and investigated in relation to level of cognitive impairment, measured using the Gottfries cognitive scale.

Results: The passiveness factor had an almost linear correlation to the level of cognitive impairment (r2 = 0.237). Non-linear correlations, with highest prevalences in middle-stage cognitive impairment, were found for aggressive behavior (r2 = 0.057), wandering behavior (r2 = 0.065), restless behavior (r2 = 0.143), verbally disruptive/attention-seeking behavior (r2 = 0.099), regressive/inappropriate behavior (r2 = 0.058), hallucinatory symptoms (r2 = 0.021) and depressive symptoms (r2 = 0.029).

Conclusion: The relations between the behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia and level of cognitive impairment were non-linear, with higher prevalence rates in the middle stages of dementia, apart from the symptom of passiveness, which increased almost linearly with the severity of cognitive impairment.