Caring for People with Challenging Behaviors: Essential Skills and Successful Strategies for Long-Term Care
by Stephen Weber Long
Category: Medical

In Caring for People with Challenging Behaviors, caregiving staff can find effective ways to prevent, reduce, or eliminate disruptive behaviors exhibited by residents in long-term care settings. Nearly 80% of LTC residents have some degree of moderate to severe behavior problems, stemming from mental illness, dementia, difficult personalities, longstanding behavior patterns, or personal distress. This new book provides practical, evidence-based coping and intervention strategies for use in care planning and day-to-day care. Through vignettes of readily recognizable resident types, staff will learn to understand what triggers and reinforces residents' challenging behavior. Solutions come from identifying the interpersonal "ABCs of behavior"--the antecedents, the behaviors, and the consequences--and using communication techniques and other effective psychological approaches to encourage positive behavior. From this book staff can learn to recognize and manage on-the-job stressors avoid common intervention mistakes respond to obstacles to effective interventions promote teamwork and improve interpersonal relationships set and execute realistic, achievable goals in treatment planning encourage residents' autonomy The principles and interventions are presented here in easy-to-understand language directed to everyone who works in a nursing home. The book can be used as a self-help tool or as a modified curriculum for in-services. Numerous handouts and displays familiarize, remind, or deepen the understanding of staff, supervisors, and administrators who want to implement these proven techniques. In addition, tracking forms help staff track residents' behaviors and their own responses to them.