Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2018
Description
Repetitive questioning is due to an impaired episodic memory and is a frequent, often presenting, problem in patients with Alzheimer’s disease (amnestic type). It is due to the patients’ difficulties learning new information, retaining it, and recalling it, and is often aggravated by a poor attention span and easy distractibility. A number of factors may trigger and maintain repetitive questioning. Caregivers should try to identify and address these triggers. In the case discussion presented, it is due to the patient’s concerns about her and her family’s safety triggered by watching a particularly violent movie aired on TV. What went wrong in the patient/caregiver interaction and how it could have been avoided or averted are explored. Also reviewed are the impact of repetitive questioning, the challenges it raises for caregivers, and some effective intervention strategies that may be useful to diffuse the angst that caregivers experience with repetitive questioning.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Citation Information
Hamdy, Ronald C.; Lewis, J. V.; Copeland, Rebecca; Depelteau, Audrey; Kinser, Amber; Kendall-Wilson, Tracey; and Whalen, Kathleen. 2018. Repetitive Questioning Exasperates Caregivers. Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine. Vol.4 https://doi.org/10.1177/2333721417738915 ISSN: 2333-7214
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2018. This document was originally published in Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine.