Paper
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Relating well with Persons with Dementia
Katherine S. McGilton, RN, PhD1, Souraya Sidani, PhD2, Sepali Guruge, RN, PhD3, Veronique Boscart, RN, MScN, MEd, PhD(c)1, and Maryanne Brown, RN, BScN, MSc1. (1) Research, Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, Toronto, ON, Canada, (2) Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada, (3) School of Nursing, Ryerson University, Toronto, ON, Canada
| Learning Objective #1: explore the influence of long-term care staffs’ relational behaviors on the residents’ affect. |
| Learning Objective #2: understand the staffs’ ability to relate well with persons with dementia in different care giving situations in everyday practice. |
The central importance of human interaction in long-term care is a major reason why an important element of quality care involves assessing the quality of the interaction between staff and residents with dementia. In previous work, McGilton developed a relational behavior scale that is used to monitor the quality of staffs’ ability to relate well with persons with dementia. A descriptive correlational study was conduced to examine staffs’ relational behaviors and the residents’ affect. The study included observations with 35 staff and 17 residents from 3 facilities. Results indicated that providers’ relational behavior influenced residents’ positive affect and mood during three care-giving situations (morning care, meal time, and interpersonal interaction). The effective relational behaviors of the staff were positively correlated with the residents’ pleasure during morning care (r = .313, p < .009) and during interpersonal interactions (r = .372, p < .002). Staff’s effective relational behaviors during episodes of morning care were negatively correlated with residents’ anxiety (r = -.528, p < .000) and sadness (r = -.299, p < .012). During meal times staffs’ effective relational behaviors were also negatively correlated with residents’ anxiety (r = -.687, p < .000) and sadness (r = -.522, p < .000). Our discussion will focus on an understanding of staffs’ ability to relate well with persons with dementia in different care giving situations in everyday practice. Articulating how relational care can be nurtured in the nursing home setting will help improve quality of care.