Staff-resident Interactions in Assisted Living: Optimizing the Quality of Daily Care Interactions
Abstract
Background: A considerable amount of research has focused on understanding and improving staff-resident interactions in long-term care. Much of this work has focused on social communications between staff and residents in nursing home settings. Attention to care interactions in assisted living (AL) is lacking. Purpose: The purpose of this dissertation was to: (1) describe the staff-resident interactions in AL; (2) explore the resident and facility factors associated with the care interactions in AL; and (3) test the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of the Promoting Positive Care Interactions (PPCI)—a four-step intervention designed to establish positive care interactions between the staff and residents with cognitive impairment or dementia in AL. Methods: Utilizing baseline data in a randomized trial that included 379 residents from 59 AL facilities, aim 1 used descriptive statistics to describe the quality of staff-resident interactions in AL and aim 2 used stepwise regression to examine factors influencing interactions. Aim 3 involved pilot-testing of PPCI intervention in one AL community in Maryland using a single group pretest-posttest design. Feasibility was demonstrated with the evidence of delivery, receipt, and enactment of PPCI. Preliminary efficacy was evaluated with repeated measures ANOVA for staff outcomes and descriptive change in summary scores for facility outcomes. Results: Although majority of the interactions observed were positive, almost 25% were negative and neutral suggesting a need to improve the interactions in ALs. Factors influencing interactions included resident agitation and facility ownership which accounted for 8.2% of variance. Additionally, PPCI was implemented as intended with 100% staff exposure to education and considerable staff engagement in mentoring sessions. While there was an improvement in AL environment and policy, no significant changes were observed in staff outcomes post PPCI. Conclusions: Understanding the quality of staff-resident interactions in AL and the factors that influenced these interactions guided the development of PPCI. Pilot testing supported the feasibility and preliminary staff adoption of PPCI in ALs. PPCI will be further tested with a randomized trial, and a hybrid model with both online education and in-person mentoring and coaching of staff to improve staff knowledge and behavior related to care interactions.Description
NursingUniversity of Maryland, Baltimore
Ph.D.
Keyword
assisted livingbehavioral intervention
online education
Cognitive Dysfunction
Dementia
Education, Distance
Older people