The Difficulty With Studying Challenging Behavior

The behavior of people with dementia has been a focus of both research and dementia care for decades, particularly behavior that is considered “challenging.” As we will discuss below, this challenging behavior has appeared difficult to demarcate and define, resulting in many approaches and views about what it comprises, which consequently has resulted in many different measurement instruments. The striking consequence is that the field now has been provided with a pool of research results that are hard to interpret and combine into knowledge that really moves it forward.