Descriptive assessment of inappropriate vocalizations emitted by persons diagnosed with dementia

Individuals diagnosed with dementia often emit disruptive inappropriate vocalizations, and functional analyses of inappropriate vocalizations in this population have produced inconclusive results. One reason may be that researchers have not presented the relevant antecedents or delivered consequences that were qualitatively similar to those typically delivered in the individual's environment. The purpose of this study was to identify environmental events that may be related to inappropriate vocalizations emitted by individuals with dementia. A 2-part descriptive assessment was conducted (narrative and structured). Conditional and unconditional probabilities were calculated to determine antecedent and consequent events that were correlated with inappropriate vocalizations. Results showed that at least 1 antecedent event was correlated with inappropriate vocalizations, and attention was likely to follow the occurrence of inappropriate vocalizations for all participants.