In the present study, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) prevalence rates were compared among 50 battered women and 37 maritally distressed women who had not experienced battering (N = 87). Participants were administered R. Spitzer and I. B. S. Williams's (1985) Structured Clinical Interview for the DSM-III-R (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders [3rd ed., rev.]) to assess PTSD status and previous traumatic experiences in addition to other standardized measures of PTSD and violence exposure. Battered women exhibited significantly higher rates of PTSD than maritally distressed women (58% vs. 18.9%). Although both groups had similar rates of previous trauma experiences, women with a PTSD-positive status (both battered women and maritally distressed women) were significantly more likely to have experienced self-reported childhood sexual abuse and a higher overall number of previous traumas than those with a PTSD-negative status. Battering exposure and childhood sexual abuse predicted 37% of the variance in overall PTSD intensity levels.

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Kim J. curyTo, KElly m. TrEvino, suzann ogland-hand, and PETEr lichTEnBErg 6 currently, 4.5 million persons in the united states have alzheimer's disease, with an estimated increase to 11 million to 16 million persons by the year 2050 (hebert, scherr, Bienias, Bennett, & Evans, 2003). a hallmark issue when caring for persons with dementia is addressing challenging or disruptive behavior. approximately 66% of community-dwelling older adults with dementia and 77% of older adults in nursing homes with dementia demonstrate disruptive behaviors (Bartels et al., 2003;chan, Kasper, Black, & rabins, 2003). untreated, these behaviors can lead to decreased quality of life, increased family and staff caregiver burden, staff burnout and turnover, use of restraints, and institutionalization or psychiatric hospitalization. as a result, disruptive behavior can also increase the cost of care (Brotons & Pickettcooper, 1996;Burgio, Jones, Butler, & Engler, 1988;conely & campbell, 1991; daniel, 2000).disruptive behaviors in dementia have been categorized into three types (Beck et al., 1998; cohen-mansfield & deutsch, 1996): (a) verbal agitationrepetitive sentences or questions, calling out, constant unwarranted requests, complaining, and negativism; (b) physically nonaggressive behavior-repetitious mannerisms, inappropriate robing-disrobing, eating or handling things inappropriately, pacing, aimless wandering, trying to get to a different place, general

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