Assessment of ambulatory behavior in nursing home residents who pace or wander: A comparison of four commercially available devices

This study evaluated four devices - a Pedometer, Step Sensor, Actigraph, and Personal Activity Meter (PAM) - as measures of pacing behavior. Ten nursing home residents who frequently paced in a long-term care facility underwent 1 day of data collection with each of the devices. Data derived from devices were compared to behavioral observations regarding the number of steps taken. Additionally, devices were evaluated via ratings concerning ease of use, and how well residents tolerated them. All devices yielded high correlations with the observed number of steps, with highest correlations for the PAM and Actigraph. All devices were tolerated well. The Pedometer and Step Sensor were the easiest to use. This study demonstrated that these devices offer an objective means to measure pacing/wandering behavior.