Skills, Self-Care, and Stories: Development of a Training Program for Nursing Home Staff

Research on the mental health care provided in nursing homes continues to be a largely unexplored area of psychology. While elderly residents remain a marginalized population, nursing home staff members lack vital resources to successfully complete their jobs, manifesting in high burnout and turnover rates as well as low job satisfaction. Staff members also lack the training and knowledge base to adequately identify and accommodate the needs and symptoms of mental illness in older adults. I developed a staff training program that includes three major phases. Phase I targets three areas of competency: (a) Knowledge of the unique mental health needs of nursing home residents, (b) Skill building in the basic use of reminiscence, and (c) Self-care strategies for staff members meant to improve job performance and satisfaction. The format for Phase I is predominantly psychoeducational workshops, which were informed by a qualitative, electronic needs analysis survey administered to nursing assistants in long-term care settings. Phase II includes the initiation of ongoing support groups for nursing home staff members. Phase III is comprised of continuing education workshops based on topics specifically requested by the nursing home staff and administration. All three phases were developed within a storytelling framework, which is a core value of the staff training. A program evaluation is proposed, which includes the measurement of changes in nursing home staff members' competency levels as well as observed and self-reported nursing home residents' quality of life.