Benetas St George's Participates In University Study To Address Challenging Behaviours Of Residents With Dementia

Some readers might recall the December 2009 edition of this newsletter where Benetas St George's described their rather extravagant balls and events aimed at brightening the lives of their residents. Well, staff are just as excited to be one of 16 facilities participating in a research project led by Marita McCabe from the School of Psychology at Deakin University.

Facility manager Michelle Kotiau explains that staff members at the facility are excited about the project because it provides a strong structural process for the care of residents with dementia through an assessment and management instrument (Behavioural and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia (BPSD) Assessment Measure). Project Manager, David Hallford further explains that through the instrument and specific staff training the BPSD instrument will aim to:

• Increase their capacity to treat most cases in situ autonomously;
• Increase the treatment of causal factors of BPSD, such as pain or infections;
• Reduce levels of BPSD and the effects of BPSD on staff stress and well-being;
• Reduce the reliance of aged care facilities on medical practitioners to prescribe psychotropic medications - in particular anti-psychotics and their associated side-effects.
• Where medical input is required, facilitate more appropriate prescribing aimed at causes of the behaviour rather than suppression of the behaviour.

Focussing on the needs of individuals has been an important and developing approach at Benetas St George's and it is considered that the individualised case specific approach being taken in this project is consistent with the aims and objectives of the Benetas facilities.

Over the past two years Benetas St George's has put 30 staff through the three day dementia care course run by Alzheimer's Australia and another 35 staff through the one day course. To ensure consistency throughout the entire team training has been provided to hospitality and administration staff as well as direct care staff. This focus on dementia care has enabled the facility to take on challenging cases and to better diagnose and care for these residents. The following graph shows the impact of this emerging culture on the ACFI Behavioural Scores at the facility.

This new project with Deakin University builds on and extends the commitment already made by Benetas St George's. This new project has had the impact of getting staff to focus more intensely on the diagnosis of issues that might be causing behavioural issues. Already the Assessment and Management Instrument has helped staff at the facility to better diagnose and understand the needs of several residents. Staff members also report that having access to the specialist team at Deakin University has helped them to refine and improve care strategies. The study is still in progress and Benetas St George's will be writing another article at the conclusion of the project to share the outcomes with other QPS clients.