Jiska Cohen-Mansfield, Ph.D.
Research Institute on Aging of the
Hebrew Home of Greater Washington
Rockville, Maryland

2003 Zenith Fellows Award

As dementia advances, affected individuals lose their ability to communicate about their feelings and experience, including whether they are in pain. This loss not only has a significant emotional impact on caregivers but also affects their ability to monitor the comfort and well-being of the individual with dementia. In addition to causing potentially avoidable suffering, discomfort may lead to agitation in individuals with dementia, increasing caregiver burden and stress. Developing effective ways to help caregivers identify pain in individuals with impaired communication may improve quality of life for individuals with dementia as well as their caregivers.

In this study, Jiska Cohen-Mansfield, PhD, and colleagues will compare the usefulness of five different assessment scales that may have potential for helping caregivers identify which individuals might benefit from pain medication. Participants will be evaluated with the five scales and those shown to have pain will receive pain medication. Nurses and researchers will then assess the impact of the pain medication to document the effectiveness of the five assessment scales in identifying individuals who might benefit from such medication. Results of this study may help validate improved methods of pain assessment that can be used by family members and other nonprofessional caregivers, enhancing quality of life for individuals and families coping with the challenges of Alzheimer’s disease.