Training on Challenging Behaviors of Institutionalized Older Adults

Abstract

The promotion of non-pharmacological strategies as a means of intervening in situations involving aggression, food refusal, and hygiene refusal, among others, has been gaining prominence within the field of behavioral gerontology. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of caregiver training, by comparing the use of written verbal instructions and behavioral skills training (BST), on the management of challenging behaviors emitted by a confederate, a researcher who simulated the behaviors of older adults. A within-subject design with multiple treatments was used. The results demonstrated that an increase in the accuracy of adequate performance in the management of challenging behaviors occurred after the implementation of BST (50%, on average) compared to the intervention with written instructions/ booklet alone (14%, on average). These findings enable advancement within the perspectives of interventions that aim to qualify professional caregivers in relation to action in the face of challenging behaviors emitted by elderly people with dementia, promoting skills teaching technologies that can be applied at low cost to institutions and that obtain results that support and demonstrate learning progress in comparison with teaching through oral and written verbal instructions.