Effects of an abilities-focused program of morning care on residents who have dementia and on caregivers

OBJECTIVE: To conduct a controlled investigation to examine the effects of an abilities-focused program of morning care on the interaction behaviors a nd functioning of residents with dementia and on caregivers' interaction be haviors and perceptions of caregiving. DESIGN: A quasi-experimental, repeated measures design. SETTING: The study was conducted on four, nursing-home-level cognitive supp orts units in a geriatric care center. One of the units was randomly select ed as the experimental unit; the other three served as controls. PARTICIPANTS: The final sample consisted of 40 residents (20 each in the ex perimental and three control groups) and 14 caregivers (16 on the experimen tal unit and 28 on the three control units). INTERVENTION: An educational program on delivering abilities-focused mornin g care, designed by the authors, was provided to caregivers on the experime ntal unit. MEASUREMENTS: Measures were taken at baseline and at 3 and 6 months postint ervention with regard to residents' interaction behaviors, level of agitati on, and level of function and to caregivers' interaction behaviors, perceiv ed ease of caregiving, and level of stress. RESULTS: Repeated measures analysis of variance (RM-ANOVA) was used to comp are the experimental and control groups in regard to changes in the outcome s over time. Results indicated that the abilities-focused program had stati stically significant effects on (a) residents' personal attending and calm/ functional behaviors, level of agitation, and levels of overall and social function, and (b) caregivers' verbal relevance and personal attending, rela xed, and social/flexible behaviors. CONCLUSIONS: The evidence suggests that both residents and caregivers benef it from morning care that is oriented toward the abilities of people with d ementia.