Effective Strategies for Managing Resistance in Dementia Care

Are you finding yourself facing aggressive reactions from someone with dementia despite your best efforts to help? It can be disheartening and perplexing when your assistance attempts are met with resistance. This often happens because dementia caregivers might inadvertently trigger negative responses despite good intentions.

So, what can you do if a resident resists care? Are there effective strategies to manage this behavior and achieve a positive outcome? In this guide, we’ll explore:

• The reasons behind a resident’s resistance to care
• Common types of care that residents may resist
• Strategies to approach and engage resistant residents
• Ways to minimize the likelihood of resistance in your senior living facility

By understanding these elements, you’ll be better equipped to create a more cooperative and supportive environment for those in your care.

Why Seniors Resist Care?

Knowing why a senior would want to refuse assistance is an important part of being able to provide effective care. Here are some common factors that contribute to resistance.

Fear

Aging individuals may feel anxious and fearful about receiving care for several reasons. They might worry about losing their independence or becoming a burden to their family or dementia caregivers. Some fear that care might increase their risk of falling or getting injured. Additionally, concerns about what the future holds, including fears about death, can also play a role in their resistance to care.

Loss of Control

It’s difficult for seniors to accept that they need help after managing independently for so long. Many resist care because they feel like they’re losing control over their lives. Even simple things, like needing help with grooming or moving around, can feel overwhelming to them. For some, accepting help feels like admitting they’re not as capable as they used to be.

Trust Issues or Poor Coping Skills

People who have had negative experiences with dementia caregivers or institutions may find it hard to trust new dementia caregivers and resist receiving help. It can also be difficult for them to adjust to new routines and levels of care if their ability to cope is low.

Personality Factors

Some individuals are obstinate or controlling; these traits do not change with age. If an elder has always been stubborn or oppositional, that behavior will be carried over to their senior years. Knowing the personality type will help determine how to reach them best.

Physical Issues

Resistance can also occur due to underlying physical issues. The elderly might be in long-term pain or have an unknown and untreated medical condition. It could also be due to side effects from medication or mental health issues like depression or anxiety, which can make it hard for them to cooperate with care. Cooperation often improves when the underlying psychological or physical variable causing the resistance is identified and fixed.

Types of Resistant Behavior

There are many forms of resistance; the first step in dealing with them is to recognize them. Common types of resistance include:

How To Manage Resistance In Some Of The Key Areas Of Care

A person living with dementia or other forms of health distress may, at times, display resistance to cooperation while carrying out their daily activities. Below are a few tips for dementia caregivers to deal with challenging behaviors in some key areas, such as bathing, eating, and grooming, to make caregiving for dementia people much smoother and more cooperative.

Bathing

Bathing is important for staying clean and healthy. It can be challenging to help older people bathe. To make bathing easier and reduce resistance, try the following:

• Test Water: When testing the water, make sure it is at a comfortable temperature for seniors, as some may have heightened sensitivity to either hot or cold water.
• Involve Your Client: To the best of their abilities, allow the elderly to bathe themselves. Place required items closer to feel more in charge of the process.
• Maintain Privacy: Their privacy during bathing should be maintained. Have a consistent routine that will make the senior citizen at ease and comfortable with such a routine.

Feeding

Nutrition plays an essential role; however, a lack of proper eating will eventually harm one’s health. Below are some dementia care tips to encourage better eating:

• Non-slip Utensils: Use plates and utensils with non-slip mats to help individuals hold them securely and eat without frustration.
• Soft, Manageable Foods: Provide easily chewable and swallowable foods that do not cause distress and create an appetite.
• Fewer Distractions: Cut out background noise, such as radio, TV, or even loud conversations, for the individual to focus on the meal.
• Snacks: Supply small, healthy snacks to be eaten throughout transitional times if the main meal is not appetizing.

Grooming

The elderly may also resist grooming, but the following suggestions may help increase cooperation:

• Use Familiar Products: Allow the person to choose or use familiar products for grooming. Familiarity may make the process easier and less threatening.
• Allow Participation: Allow them to do as much personal care as possible, like combing their hair or putting on lotion. The more they can participate, the more cooperative they will be.
• Offer Praise: Give them positive feedback about their actions and how they look. Let them know that they are doing great and praise their cooperation to increase their tendency to cooperate with grooming.

Compassionate Dementia Care Strategies

Despite the change in behavior and communication, dementia care has remained tough and demanding all along. That’s why the use of appropriate strategies for dementia disease care can help maintain not only the most optimal relationship with a person living with dementia but also the best care provision. Below are the principles to guide dementia caregivers and those living with dementia.

1. View the Behavior as an Effect of the Disease

Accepting the fact that an elderly with dementia will do many things that have never been done before is probably the most trying aspect of caregiving for dementia people. These many changes are hard to cope with emotionally and can be confusing. It is necessary to keep in mind:

• It is a brain-involved disease, so the acts and the words that are spoken do not, in reality, reflect the character of the person. 
• It will not be easy, but an attitude of creating a mental buffer that almost allows space between the behavior and the person is likely to be a balm that will soothe your own therapists. 
• You need to remind yourself that it is not the behavior directed toward you that you are the target of—it is a symptom of the disease.

By understanding that such behaviors are the direct outcome of the disease process, you will be better equipped to sustain a caring and supportive relationship with the individual living with dementia.

2. Use Exclusionary Categories to Minimize Frustration in Communication

One of the most frustrating facts for a person living with dementia and their care partners is that the ability to understand and express oneself through language decreases over time. To reduce frustration and enhance communication:

• Instead of asking open-ended questions, give options that simplify making choices. For example: “Would you like pasta or chicken for dinner?” (this or that) “Are you looking for your purse or something else?” (this or something else)

• Limiting the number of options simplifies how the person can communicate their needs, reducing probable misunderstandings.
  

Improve comprehension: The person can concentrate on fewer options and, therefore, have more successful and less stressful communication.

3. Engage in Supported Apologies

Apologize, even if you feel you are not the one in the wrong, to keep a good relationship with the person who has dementia. Apologizing doesn’t mean you’re admitting fault; it’s simply a way to maintain a positive relationship and avoid conflict. Consider the following:

• Remember to use phrases like “I’m sorry I upset you,” “I’m sorry this is difficult,” and “I’m sorry I spoke to you like that” to address the situation without assigning blame.

• As dementia develops, so does your loved one’s ability to understand your side of the facts. An apology will smooth disagreements and repair the relationship, even when you have done nothing wrong.
• Remember that the main purpose is to comfort the person and connect, strengthening the bond between you and your loved one.

4. Use Reflective Communication

Reflecting or mirroring tends to be a very powerful technique for the person who is anxious or agitated with dementia. This technique consists of the following:

• Repeating or rewording what the person says will show them that you are listening. For example: They say, “This isn’t fair.” You respond, “You feel this isn’t fair.”

• When you speak to someone who is upset, try to match their tone with a calming voice. This shows that you understand their emotions and are not trying to belittle how they feel.
• Repeating words back to a person shows them that you are listening and hearing them and can diffuse the situation by helping them hear themselves.

5. Transition from Passive to Active Learning

To truly imbibe skills that form the crux of compassionate dementia care, one must move beyond passive home caregiver training—inwardly digesting videos or printed matter in the form of books or articles—toward active engagement. The way to do it is as follows:

• Take some time to reflect regularly during your learning experience on how you might use the information in a real situation. Reflect on how you would do things differently because of what you learned.
• Try putting down your thoughts and reflective insights on paper to solidify what you have understood and to refer to at a later date. Teach others: Explain what you have learned to another person. Teaching reinforces knowledge gained and integrates it even more.
• For example, you can take the L2C well-developed caregiver training programs, where you get to practice what you learned in real-time. This practical or hands-on method better equips one to incorporate the kind of technique that will be used in giving care.

Wrapping Up

There isn’t a magic formula that will be equated with better dementia disease care, but implementing these strategies into the life of someone with a changing brain will make all the difference in the world. Always keep in mind that the behaviors you see result from disease, and by supporting communication, working thoughtfully with apologies, reflective listening, and active learning, you are already way ahead in offering compassionate care. If what you’ve been doing has not been working, it’s time to do something different. It’s the next step toward becoming a more skilled and caring dementia caregiver.