IMPACT OF A NURSING ASSISTANT TRAINING PROGRAM ON JOB PERFORMANCE, ATTITUDES, AND RELATIONSHIPS WITH RESIDENTS

Abstract

Nursing assistants, who provide the majority of direct care to institutionalized elderly individuals, often receive little training in terms of communication and conflict management with residents and families. Physical and verbal abuse of residents may occur when nursing assistants are inadequately prepared to deal with the challenges of providing intimate care on an ongoing basis. This article describes the impact of an abuse prevention training program for nursing assistants in terms of general perceptions of and attitudes toward residents, job performance and care quality, burnout, staff‐resident conflict, and aggression by residents toward nursing assistants. The positive evaluations of the program by participants indicate that the program was clinically relevant. Attitudes toward residents differed from pre‐ to posttest in that nursing assistants were less likely to agree that the elderly were like children. A statistically significant decline in self‐reported nursing assistant‐resident conflict was noted following the program, although there was no change in reports of resident aggression toward nursing assistants. The importance of supporting nursing assistants through both education and policy is discussed.