Often, residents suffering from dementia or delirium will exhibit challenging behaviors, whether physical, verbal or even nonverbal. While challenging behaviors are difficult to manage, these outbursts are often your residents’ way of expressing that they are hungry, in pain, frightened or have another unmet need or desire.
The key to managing this behavior is to first understand where your residents are coming from. As a health care provider, you should focus on what their behavior is trying to communicate, not just on the challenging behavior itself.
Essentially, instead of focusing on the behavior itself, you should get to the root of why they are acting out. Maybe they are scared or confused, or perhaps they are in pain and cannot express how they are feeling verbally. Once you discover the reason behind the behavior, you can more appropriately meet their needs and deliver quality care for your residents.
To learn more about this topic, consider taking Mariposa Training’s course in dementia care called “Behavior Management: Using Root Cause Analysis to Determine Underlying Motivations” today!
