Try: Go for a walk or a drive getting out even for a short time is helpful upon returning home the cr often recognizes it as home respond to the emotion being expressed e g are you feeling scared or i know you are feeling lonely offer reassurance e g i will take care of you or don’t worry you will have everything you need here look at a photo album with pictures of cr’s childhood the chance to reminisce about the past may ease the anxiety and trigger pleasant memories avoid asking a lot of direct questions that rely on memory and may cause anxiety try keeping a diary or log write down every time this behavior occurs what time of day was it what happened just before it began who was present what was going on in the environment sometimes a pattern may emerge if the person is particularly insecure or frightened at the same time every day establish a very specific routine to help build security and look for distractions to help get through that time of day examine routine for events or stresses that may be causing or encouraging wanting to go home for example in nursing homes or foster care shift changes are often stressful times; some people’s anxiety about going home is triggered by noisy confusing shift changes try to redirect the cr’s attention with an activity food music dancing a walk or other exercise often after a while the person will forget about wanting to go home remove objects that remind cr of going home e g hats coats purse coat rack etc

Materials: n/a

Categories: Behavior Challenging, Medical Physical

Information: n/a

References: Robinson a spencer b & white l 1992 adapted from understanding difficult behaviors geriatric education center of michigan

Keywords: Dementia

*This information is listed as a Tip and is not explicitly medically licensed