Model Abuse Prevention Training Program for Long-Term Care Staff (From Abuse, Neglect, and Exploitation of Older Persons: Strategies for Assessment and Intervention, P 221-240, 1996, Lorin A Baumhover and S Colleen Beall, eds. -- See 163840)

• NCJ Number: 163852
• Author(s): B H Keller
• Date Published: 1996
• Length: 20 pages
• Sale Source: Health Professions Press, Inc
• Publication Type: Program Description (Model)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This chapter reviews a training program that was designed to ensure high-quality care by increasing staff awareness of elder abuse and by providing abuse prevention strategies.

Abstract

An overview of training in the long-term care environment addresses nursing facilities, board-and-care homes, and home health care. The training program described is designed to increase staff awareness of abuse, neglect, and the potential for abuse in long-term care facilities; equip staff with appropriate conflict intervention strategies; and reduce abuse in long-term care facilities. The curriculum presented is designed to be interactive, dynamic, and practical. The majority of the training time is to be used for group discussion and the practice of intervention techniques. The author advises that even high- quality training is not sufficient, however, to ensure high- quality staff performance if the screening done in the hiring process is inadequate. The hiring of qualified staff is a prerequisite for achieving the intended training benefits. The proposed curriculum consists of eight training modules. The curriculum is entitled, "An Abuse-Free Environment: A Learning Program for Nursing Home Staff," developed by the Coalition of Advocates for the Rights of the Infirm Elderly. Each section of the curriculum begins with a role play scenario that depicts the subtle types of abuse that occur daily in most long-term care facilities. Staff use these vignettes to practice intervention strategies. The modules address the following topics: an overview of abuse in nursing facilities, identification and recognition of abuse, possible causes of abuse, understanding feelings about care giving, cultural and ethnic perspectives and implications for staff-resident dynamics, abuse of staff by residents (understanding versus personalizing), ethical and legal issues of reporting suspected abuse, and intervention strategies for abuse prevention. Evaluation data and trainers' experiences in conducting the program with hundreds of direct-care staff in many areas of the United States argue for the inclusion of this type of abuse prevention education as part of the basic and continuing training for all long-term care staff. 26 references and an appended glossary of abuse and neglect