Implementing Gentle Persuasive Approaches dementia education for staff on in-patient medicine units: A program evaluation

Older adults with dementia, when hospitalised, frequently experience responsive behaviours. Staff struggle to manage responsive behaviours without specific education. We aimed to enhance staff knowledge and confidence with care for older adults with dementia and responsive behaviours on medicine units at a Canadian hospital. An online dementia education program was disseminated to staff as part of a broader quality improvement project. Gentle Persuasive Approaches (GPA) encourages staff to reframe responsive behaviours as self-protective expressions of unmet needs and learn to assess their meaning. Participants completed online quantitative and qualitative measures of self-efficacy, competence and knowledge in dementia care at three times: immediate pre-, immediate post- and six to eight weeks post-GPA eLearning. Immediately post-GPA, participants showed significant increases relative to baseline in dementia care self-efficacy, competence and knowledge. Self-efficacy scores increased further eight weeks post-GPA. Before GPA, few participants described dementia-specific strategies for de-escalating a patient’s agitation. Eight weeks post-GPA, participants described application of tailored, person-centred, non-pharmacological interventions and successful application of GPA strategies. GPA eLearning strengthened staff preparedness to interact with older adults experiencing responsive behaviours, thus enhancing their care.