Abstract
Most residents of nursing homes are female, aged more than 80 years, are physically frail and are highly likely to be affected by moderate-to-severe dementia. Symptoms of depression are common among these residents (20-50%), and it is likely that schizophrenia is more common in this population than among elderly people in the community. The management of behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia, including agitation, resistiveness, aggression and excessive motor behaviour presents a major challenge in this population. Antipsychotic medications should not be used routinely for these symptoms because management with skilled nursing care and activity programmes will often contain such ..
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