Evaluation of a Behavior Management Training Program for Nursing Home Caregivers

This study examined the effectiveness of a new skills training program designed to increase nurse aides' knowledge of behavior management. The training program, designed as five 90-minute group learning modules, was implemented in two Western Pennsylvania nursing homes over a 5-month period. Topics covered within the training program included-basic principles of behavioral management as they apply to depressed, disc ented, and agitated resident behaviors. Performance on eight mental health questionnaires, administered serially as pretests and posttests fot each of the training modules, was used to evaluate nurse aides' acquisition and retention of this new knowledge. For three of the five training sessions; there was a significant pretest to posttest improvement (p .0001). In addition, one test was administered twice: once at the beginning of the training program and again at the end of the training program, 4 months later. There was a significant improvement on this measure (p .0001).-Several of these test scores were also found to correlate significantly with caregiver self-ratings of their tendency to use behavior management skills in caregiving. The results have implications for improving the caregiving knowledge of nursing assistants, improving actual caregiving behaviors, and determining the limitations of inservice education in the nursing home context. (Author/NB)