Brief training to promote the use of less intrusive prompts by nursing assistants in a dementia care unit.

Engelman, K. K., Altus, D. E., Mosier, M. C., & Mathews, R. M. (2003). Brief training to promote the use of less intrusive prompts by nursing assistants in a dementia care unit. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 36, 129-132.

We evaluated the efficacy of a brief staff-training procedure to increase the use of graduated prompting by 2 certified nursing assistants (CNAs) while they helped to dress 3 persons with dementia in a seven-bed dementia care unit. The multiple baseline design across participants showed that CNAs dressed residents with minimal resident involvement during baseline observations. Following brief in-service training, CNAs provided graduated prompts and praise appropriately, suggesting that CNAs can promote active involvement in personal care routines by older adults with dementia.

DESCRIPTORS: _prompts, staff training, dementia care