title: Impact of training dementia caregivers in sensitivity to nonverbal emotion signals.
abstract: Ninety-one mid- to late-stage dementia patients residing in nursing homes, along with their staff caregivers, participated in a study designed to assess whether training caregivers in sensitivity to nonverbal communication could enhance mood and reduce symptoms in patients and improve psychological well-being in caregivers. Patients and staff at three nursing homes comprised three groups that were randomly assigned to either a nonverbal sensitivity group, a behavioral placebo group that received instruction in the cognitive and behavioral aspects of dementia, and a wait-list control. Training consisted of 10 one-hour sessions taught by a clinical psychologist using prepared materials. Patient measures, which were taken at baseline and at 4 three-week intervals, included patient symptomatology (depression, agitation, behavioral symptoms), as reported by the staff caregivers, and positive and negative facial expressions of emotion elicited during a face-to-face interview and coded by trained research staff. Results indicated that positive affect increased sharply during the first 6 weeks after intervention in the nonverbal group, with the placebo and wait-list controls showing no change. There was also a decline in negative affect across time for all groups. Effects with respect to patient symptomatology did not reach significance. Caregivers in both training groups showed a decline in symptomatology, whereas the wait-list control group did not.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Long Island University, Brooklyn, New York 11201, USA. cmagai@liu.edu
authors.forename: Carol
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Magai
authors.forename: Carl I
authors.initials: CI
authors.lastname: Cohen
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gomberg
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000342:Affective Symptoms; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001288:Attention; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D017028:Caregivers / Q000193:education* / Q000523:psychology; D003463:Cues; D003704:Dementia / Q000451:nursing* / Q000523:psychology; D004509:Education, Nursing, Continuing / Q000458:organization & administration*; D004644:Emotions; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007318:Inservice Training / Q000458:organization & administration*; D008297:Male; D009633:Nonverbal Communication; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D009730:Nursing Assessment; D015402:Nursing Education Research; D009735:Nursing Homes; D009740:Nursing Staff / Q000193:education* / Q000523:psychology; D015397:Program Evaluation