Changing Talk to Reduce Resistiveness to Care

The investigators are interested in reducing problem behaviors of nursing home residents with dementia that make providing care difficult. The investigators call these behaviors resistiveness to care. Previous research has found that resistiveness to care occurs more frequently when staff use certain types of communication. An inservice program will be provided to all nursing staff in your nursing home to teach staff about communication practices to reduce resistiveness to care. The research study will see whether changing communication will reduce resident resistiveness to care. If effective, the communication training may then be used to improve care in other facilities.

By doing this study, researchers hope to learn if changing communication practices will reduce resistiveness to care in nursing home residents with dementia.