Aggressive behavior. Educating nursing assistants.

Caring for cognitively impaired aggressive residents presents a challenge to nursing assistants in long-term care facilities. Nursing assistants participated in an educational program that included content about cognitive losses, precipitants of aggression, communication techniques, strategies for preventing aggressive behavior, and managing personal feelings. Following the educational intervention in this study, nursing assistants reported that caring for cognitively impaired residents was significantly more rewarding and less frustrating. The use of the clinical nurse specialist to teach and assist in role modeling direct care of residents was effective in improving nursing assistant skill in working with aggressive cognitively impaired residents.