Improving Confidence in Dementia Care by Helping Care Staff Articulate Skills They Already Possess: The Value of the Communication and Interaction Training (CAIT) Programme

This article discusses the findings from a training programme called ‘Communication and Interaction Training’ (CAIT). CAIT was designed to improve the confidence of carers in their use of communication skills with people living with dementia, particularly when managing behavioural agitation. This pre/post assessment study employed a mixed design, and showed positive effects in terms of quantitative and qualitative features. The participants were mainly from a specialist team who were experienced in managing episodes of agitation in care home settings. Twenty-three staff were assessed on the Confidence in Dementia Scale (CODE), which is a measure for assessing carers’ confidence in communicating with people living with dementia. The findings showed increased levels of confidence in communicating and interacting with people with dementia following the training. The qualitative findings showed improvements in participants’ abilities to articulate their communication strategies (i.e. higher degrees of specificity in their communication skills), indicative of improved dementia ‘literacy’ regarding their interventions. As a consequence of such improvements, it is suggested that greater confidence and literacy would lead to the delivery of better care due to enhanced self-awareness of good practices, and enhanced communication skills both within the staff group and between staff and residents.