Positive connections communication enhancement - Dementia

‘Positive connections’ is a process where genuine relationships are fostered between residents with high levels of mental confusion and general care staff.

At Peter Cosgrove House, sincere interactions between staff and residents take their relationships beyond the standard approach of distracting confused residents.

The importance of the ‘Positive connections’ program is that when staff can interact with the person rather than their dementia, this has a positive impact on the care giving relationship and the communication between staff members and residents.

Key elements used

Existing social history materials are augmented with family interviews and each resident has their personal ‘bio’ placed in their case files.

The resident’s ‘bio’ is:

• written with family involvement
• in an ‘easy to read’ format
• placed discreetly on the care file
• used in staff orientation to the approach and goals of the resident care unit

Coaching is provided as needed.

Residents affected with dementia need to be regarded as individuals with life values and identities that have been created over the many years of their lives.  Sincere interactions between staff at Peter Cosgrove House and their residents go beyond the standard assistance given to residents that are confused, to make them feel comfortable.

At Peter Cosgrove House, it is important to the staff that they know the resident affected, and be able to have a face-to-face conversation without focussing on sentimental objects.  This has a very positive impact on the care giving relationships as well as the communication that occurs between staff and residents.

Staff at Peter Cosgrove House were concerned that even using best practice approaches such as ‘life story work’, a person with dementia is at risk of missing an abundance of opportunities to initiate or maintain interpersonal contact with others.  Equally, establishing relationships with someone who is mentally confused can be extremely difficult for care staff who often have limited or no information about the person, other than their problems.