Background: Positive and effective staff-resident interactions are imperative to adequately assess and meet the needs of cognitively impaired residents in nursing homes and optimize their quality of life.
Aim: The purpose of this study was to quantify, describe, and analyze the interaction between staff and cognitively impaired residents in nursing homes, using the Quality of Interaction Schedule (QuIS).
Method: This descriptive analysis utilized baseline data from the first 2 cohorts in a randomized clinical trial including 341 residents from 35 nursing homes.
Results: Five hundred fifty-six staff-resident interactions were evaluated; majority were positive (n = 466, 83.8%) and the remaining were either neutral (n = 60, 10.8%) or negative (n = 30, 5.4%). The quality of interactions varied by interaction location, interpersonal distance, and resident participation.
Conclusion: Future research should focus on decreasing the negative/neutral interactions and explore staff characteristics (eg, gender, level of experience) and facility factors (eg, size, ownership) that might influence the quality of interactions.
Keywords: cognitive impairment; communication; long-term care; nursing homes; staff–resident interactions.