Educating nursing assistants to communicate more effectively with nursing home residents with dementia

Abstract

This article describes the development and evaluation of a Nursing Assistant Communication Skills Program (NACSP). NACSP was designed to help nursing assistants (NAs) interact more effectively with nursing home residents with moderate and severe dementia. In two skilled-care nursing homes, NAs in four units were randomly assigned by unit to NACSP or to a wait-list control condition (UC) and were assessed at baseline, 3 months, and 6 months. NACSP resulted in improvement in the well-being of nursing home residents being cared for by NAs who had received the NACSP training. It was also found that NACSP resulted in greater knowledge of caregiving responses and reduced turnover rates among NAs, but the program had no impact on their knowledge of dementia. To disseminate the NACSP program, a leader manual, an accompanying training videotape, and a workbook for participants were developed.