Does an education program for caregivers at a stage 3 dementia care facility improve the quality of life for the residents, thereby reducing the use of antipsychotic medications for behavioural symptoms of dementia?

EDUCATION: All members of staff at the facility will attend a half day training session. The education will be provided by nursing staff from our team. It will cover what dementia is, how it affects the persons brain. How this translates to behaviours and how care staff can react to these behaviours, We will focus on Tom Kitwoods model of recognising the person behind the symptoms and use the Behavioural Staging Model to help staff recognise the different stages that people with dementia go through, with a corresponding change in our approach at a given stage. There will be a focus on being aware of responding to clients needs as they arise with a shift away from 'care by the clock' We will present our individual assessment tool and guide designed for the project so that staff are guided through the Antecedent-Behaviour-Consequences (ABC) approach of functional analysis. SUPPORT & GUIDANCE: Once a week, for 2-3 hours a member of our team will attend the facility to review the behavioural assessment tools completed in that week. They will assist in the process of learning to problem solve why events occurred and which strategies might reduce these events occurring again. This will be carried out for 2 months. Outcome measures at 3 and 6 months.