Transitioning spaced retrieval training to care staff in an Australian residential aged care setting for older adults with dementia: a case study approach

Abstract

A case-study approach was used to determine the effectiveness of transitioning the spaced retrieval (SR) intervention to aged care facility staff to maintain resident goals achieved, with a further exploratory goal to investigate the effectiveness of training two functional goals simultaneously. Frequency, severity, distress, and disturbance caused by targeted problem behaviors were recorded at baseline, post-intervention, and 3-week follow-up for six clients with dementia in an aged care facility. Reductions in each area were found for four participants, including where two goals were trained simultaneously. Staff believed that barriers to maintenance of SR interventions would be staff time pressure, staff turnover, and staff forgetting to use the SR intervention. Despite this, the research shows that SR can be used successfully in aged care facilities to train single- and dual-functional goals and can be transitioned to staff, thereby reducing problem behavior associated with dementia.