Walking Interviews and Wandering Behavior: Ethical Insights and Methodological Outcomes While Exploring the Perspectives of Older Adults Living With Dementia

Abstract

While the use of walking interviews is not new in health care research, this method has not been used to study the wandering behavior of older adults living with dementia in long-term care (LTC) homes. The aim of this article is to describe ethical insights and consequential methodological outcomes when walking interviews were used as a means of exploring the perspectives of older adults living with mild to moderate dementia. We suggest that our use of walking interviews with older adults who presented with wandering behavior respected participants’ agency and, at times, placed the first author in the situation of “ethical vulnerability” in the roles of researcher and clinician. The first author, an experienced nurse clinician, walked with eight participants while interviewing them about why they walk and their intended destinations. Walking interviews provided the opportunity not only to interview participants but also to observe their walking behavior and interaction with others in the LTC home. Walking interviews with older adults living with dementia who are highly mobile in the LTC home acknowledge the primacy of the research participant and the researcher as learner.