Building Bridges Between Families and Nursing Home Staff: The Partners in Caregiving Program

Abstract

Compelling evidence exists that conflict and communication problems occur between nursing home staff and family members of residents. However, few interventions have been documented that simultaneously address the needs of both groups. The Partners in Caregiving program was created to train staff and family members in communication techniques and conflict resolution skills. Through a joint meeting with facility administrators, both groups also have the opportunity to influence facility practices. Evaluation data indicated that satisfaction with the program was extremely high, and that positive changes in staff-family interactions occurred.

Identifying Changeable Barriers to Family Involvement in the Nursing Home for Cognitively Impaired Residents

“…Two promising interventions are available that center on improving communication to reduce sometimes adversarial relations between formal and informal caregivers. Partners in Caregiving (Pillemer et al, 1998) trains families and staff in communication techniques and conflict resolution skills while offering opportunities to influence facility practices. Participants felt the program improved their communication skills, but the effect on family involvement was not evaluated.…”

“…Interventions such as education about coping with the dementing process, assisting caregiver's with health-based limitations, identifying and enlisting the assistance of the caregiver's larger social support network, solving transportation issues, and improving relationships with staff are possible ways of ameliorating these barriers. A handful of promising interventions have been proposed or conducted, although most were pilot or demonstration projects and none examined family involvement as an outcome (Anderson, Hobson, Steiner, & Rodel, 1992;Drysdale, Nelson, & Wineman, 1993;Hansen, Patterson, & Wilson, 1988;Kelley, Specht, & Maas, 2000;McCallion et al, 1999;Pillemer, Hegeman, Albright, & Henderson, 1998;Sancier, 1984). Prior to further evaluation and design of interventions, research is needed to identify which, if any, of these more changeable barriers relates to family involvement for today's caregiving families.…”

Partners in Caregiving in a Special Care Environment: Cooperative Communication Between Staff and Families on Dementia Units

“…The four response categories range from never to every day. On the Staff Provision to Residents Scale (Pillemer et al, 1998), families rate the care that the staff provides to their relatives by selecting never, rarely, sometimes, or almost always on three items. The Staff Behaviors Scale (Pillemer et al) measures family perceptions of how often staff members provide them with news, encouragement, or suggestions using the same four answer choices as the previous scale.…”

“…An additional measure for staff was the Family Behaviors Scale, which measures staff perceptions of how often family members treat them with respect, act rudely, smile and greet them, or ignore them (Pillemer et al, 1998). The Family Empathy Scale asks staff the degree to which family members understand how much time it takes to do the staff members' job, are mostly concerned about their own needs, and are sensitive to staff members' feelings, on a scale of never, rarely, sometimes, or almost always (Pillemer et al, 2003).…”

“…From the perspective of nursing home staff, working successfully with residents' families is one particularly stressful aspect of their jobs (CohenMansfield, 1995;Heiselman & Noelker, 1991;Pillemer, Hegeman, Albright, & Henderson, 1998). Staff members generally report having inadequate time for substantive or meaningful discussions with family members (Pillemer, 1996).…”