Caregiver Person-Centeredness and Behavioral Symptoms in Nursing Home Residents with Dementia: A Timed-Event Sequential Analysis

Purpose: Evidence suggests that person-centered caregiving approaches may reduce dementia-related behavioral symptoms; however, little is known about the sequential and temporal associations between specific caregiver actions and behavioral symptoms. The aim of this study was to identify sequential associations between caregiver person-centered actions, task-centered actions, and resident behavioral symptoms and the temporal variation within these associations. Design and Methods: Videorecorded observations of naturally occurring interactions (N = 33; 724 min) between 12 nursing home (NH) residents with dementia and eight certified nursing assistants were coded for caregiver person-centered actions, task-centered actions, and resident behavioral symptoms and analyzed using timed-event sequential analysis. Results: Although caregiver actions were predominantly person-centered, we found that resident behavioral symptoms were significantly more likely to occur following task-centered caregiver actions than person-centered actions. Implications: Findings suggest that the person-centeredness of caregivers is sequentially and temporally related to behavioral symptoms in individuals with dementia. Additional research examining the temporal structure of these relationships may offer valuable insights into the utility of caregiver person-centeredness as a low-cost strategy for improving behavioral symptom management in the NH setting.