Observable behavior and affective states of people with dementia during wayfinding: a pilot study in two nursing home corridors

While wayfinding skills are crucial in autonomously conducting daily activities, it is a decreasing skill for people with dementia. Understanding how people with dementia find their way around and how they emotionally respond during this activity, especially at decision moments, can provide insights into more suitable nursing home designs. Six nursing home residents with severe dementia of two care organizations were given a wayfinding task. The executed tasks were observed and analyzed on wayfinding behaviors and affective states. The majority of the observed behaviors at decision moments were pronouncing aloud destinations or directions and help by carers providing verbal navigational cues. People with dementia might need confirmation at decision moments about their routes to reduce raised confusion. Mostly, neutral facial expressions were observed, which might physiologically be varied from stressful events to relaxing moments. These findings would imply increased confusion at decision moments during active wayfinding.