Supporting staff caring for institutionalised people with dementia: a psycho- educational approach

Abstract

Caring for people with dementia can be very stressful for direct care staff working in residential facilities, due to residents’ challenging behaviours (e.g., delusions, aggression and agitation) and to the insufficient specialized training in dementia care. Despite the association between staff’s stress and residents’ well-being, the majority of interventions tend to provide staff with education, overlooking the provision of emotional support. Thus, the purpose of this pilot-study was to develop and evaluate a psycho-educational programme (PE) for staff in a residential facility, designed to: i) increase staff knowledge and competences regarding dementia care; and ii) provide staff with coping strategies to manage work-related stress.