Special care dementia units: the nature of existing knowledge.

Individuals with dementia have been widely studied over the past decade. However, most of what is known about special care dementia units comes from anecdotal reports and case studies, which are considered to be insufficient for characterizing unit features or care practices (Leon & Siegenthaler, 1994). Consequently, only tentative conclusions based on experiences to date can be made (Meyer et al., 1991).