Understanding Dementia
Participants will gain insight into dementia and be able to apply this knowledge in their day-to-day interactions with residents.

1. What is dementia anyway?
2. Demystifying Alzheimer’s Disease
3. Differentiating between dementia and delirium
4. Understanding the importance of a differential diagnosis for dementia

COMMUNICATION
Participants will learn how their verbal and non-verbal skills impact the residents during care and throughout the day. Communication skills will be learned and practiced during this experiential session.

1. Verbal and Non-Verbal Communication
2. Enhanced Listening Skills
3. Validation
4. Empathetic Listening

Understanding the Language of Behaviour
Participants will learn what causes disturbing behaviours and how to reduce the incidence of catastrophic reactions through an understanding of:

1. Kahana’s research on the perception of desired and undesired behaviour of residents
2. The Progressivley Lowered Stress Threshold Model
3. The importance of empowerment and control
4. The Needs Driven Dementia Compromised Behaviour Theory
5. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and how it relates to causal factors in disturbing behaviours
6. The use and application of the Antecedent Behaviour Monitoring Form

The Holistic Approach to Wellness
Participants will understand the importance of implementing a comprehensive assessment and developing an appropriate care plan with individualized interventions that all staff can use to provide care for the "whole person"

1. The comprehensive assessment
2. Individualized and strength based care planning
3. Meeting the social and emotional needs of residents with dementia….from recreation programming to nursing

Enhancing Activities of Daily Living
Participants will tips and techniques to decrease resistance to care; these will include nutritional and environmental adaptations

1. Dignity
2. Task Segmentation/Outcome Orientation
3. Cueing
4. Adaptability
5. Easy to apply environmental adaptations and modifications which increase success
6. Creative approaches to food service delivery

Expressions of Intimacy
Expressions of intimacy involving nursing home residents with dementia are often ignored or responded to with inconsistency due to lack of understanding and clear direction. This module will discuss issues affecting residents, families, and staff. Recommended guidelines for staff responses to self-directed intimacy, intimacy between residents with dementia, and intimacy between cognitively well residents will be presented.

Assessment and Screening
Participants will gain information on all aspects of the assessment process:

1. Reliability and validity explained: how to choose the right assessment
2. Introduction to standardized tools: how to use them to ensure appropriate outcome measurements are created and programs are developed based on the unique needs and strengths of the residents you serve
3. Important techniques for gaining the most information during the initial assessment and beyond
4. Introduction of the new software version of the Measurable Assessment in Recreation for Resident-Centred Care (MARRCC)

Resident-Centred Care Plans
This will be a hands-on session in which the participants will first learn how to develop a resident-centred care plan and then practice writing goals and interventions for inter-disciplinary care plans.

1. How to develop a resident-centred care plan
2. How to write a goal and develop appropriate interventions for residents in all functioning levels
3. Understanding the inter-disciplinary care plan process

Quarterly Progress Notes
This will be a hands-on session in which participants will obtain an outline that helps to ensure that all required information is included in these important notes. They will then practice writing condensed and concise progress notes to save time in the documentation process.

1. Quarterly Progress Notes: understanding what is needed and what is not
2. Streamlining the process to save time while ensuring that all the necessary components are included in each entry

Attendance Records
Participants will learn how to get the most information out of these important records.

1. A new, useful and feasible way to document resident attendance
2. Differentiating between active and passive participation
3. Utilizing attendance records for quality assurance, program evaluation and to increase advocacy for the residents with whom we work

Finding the Time to Document

1. Tools, tips and strategies to find the time to document
2. Building documentation into every day practice

Understanding Dementia
Participants will gain insight into dementia and be able to apply this knowledge to program development and their day-to-day interactions with residents

1. What is dementia anyway?
2. Demystifying Alzheimer’s Disease
3. Differentiating between dementia and delirium
4. Understanding the importance of a differential diagnosis for dementia

Communication
Participants will learn how their verbal and non-verbal skills impact the residents during programs. They will learn how this, in turn, impacts participation patterns of residents with dementia. Communication skills will be learned and practiced during this experiential session.

1. Verbal and Non-Verbal Communication
2. Enhanced Listening Skills
3. Validation
4. Empathetic Listening

Understanding the Language of Behaviour
Participants will learn what causes disturbing behaviours and how to reduce the incidence of catastrophic reactions through an understanding of:

1. KaHana’s research on the perception of desired and undesired behaviour of residents
2. The Progressivley Lowered Stress Threshold Model
3. The important of empowerment and control
4. Components of recreation programming that can increase and /or decrease disturbing behaviour’s of resident’s with dementia.
5. The Needs Driven Dementia Compormised Behaviour Theory
6. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and how it relates to causal factors in disturbing behaviours
7. The use and application of the Antecedent Behaviour Monitoring Form

Critical program components
This session will provide participants with proven strategies and programs to meet the needs of residents with dementia.

1. Developing strength-based care plans to meet unique needs
2. Critical components of individual and small group programs for residents with dementia
3. Understimulation and overstimulation: exacerbating disturbing behaviours
4. Strength-based programming

Normalization as a foundation of programming for resident’s with dementia
Participants will learn the importance of “normalization” when programming for resident with dementia.

1. How to create and implement “life stations”
2. Matching past and present interest
3. Unstructured and meaningful activities
4. Capitalizing on previous routines
5. Optimizing resident abilities and minimizing functional decline

Choice, Control and Empowerment
Participants will learn about the importance of choice, control and empowerment when working with residents who have dementia.

1. Overview of research on the topic of choice and control in LTC settings
2. How to provide choice in a structured environment
3. How to build choice into all recreation programs

Environmental adaptation as an intervention
Participants will learn how to easily adapt the long-term care environment to decrease the incidence of disturbing behaviours.

1. Decrease existing behaviours
2. Decrease agitation during programming
3. Increase the relaxation response

1. Developing Departmental Goals: The Foundation of Change
2. Staff, Volunteers and Family Members: Getting the Most From Your limited Resources
3. Program Development and Program Protocols
4. Becoming an Active Member of the Multi-Disciplinary Team

1. How to stay motivated to produce positive outcomes for your department
2. Ensuring that you function at your optimal level so that you can better meet the needs of the residents you work with.
3. Introduction of the “Psychology of the Positive” and how to apply it to your daily work.
4. Understanding personality types and how to get the best from each one!
5. How to win over your nursing staff—really!!

Programming Guidelines to Ensure Balance Across the Four Domains and the Three Functioning Levels

Recreation Department Evaluation

1. Recreation Therapy Program Audit Tool
2. Recreation Therapy Statistical Audit Tool
3. Recreation Therapy Chart Audit
4. Recreation Therapy Quality Assurance Report

Individual Program Evaluation

1. Process Evaluation
2. Program Evaluation
3. Leadership Facilitation Evaluation: Leadership skills, Communication skills, and Organizational skills

This session will cover the following topics:

1. Program options to meet the needs of high functioning residents who refuse to participate, non-senior residents (younger than 65 years), and male residents
2. Communication techniques to enhance social interaction of cognitively impaired resident during 1:1 and small group programs
3. Techniques to engage your most challenging residents (e.g. effective use of touch; sensory stimulation; massage; etc.)
4. How to document progress for your low and very low functioning residents--capturing your successes