The development of the Grip on Challenging Behaviour dementia care programme

Abstract

Current guidelines and theories on the origin of challenging behaviour in dementia indicate that a structured multidisciplinary approach to its management is necessary. In the Grip on Challenging Behaviour study, a care programme was developed to improve the management of challenging behaviour. In developing the care programme, the overlapping parts of dementia care guidelines were supplemented with discipline-specific parts. Three meetings with experts were arranged to further develop the structure of the care programme and to ensure a good fit with practice. The care programme consists of four steps: detection, analysis, treatment, and evaluation. For each step, forms were developed to guide and structure the process and assign responsibilities for each discipline. As well as a description of the development and the content of the care programme, this paper presents two case studies in which the programme was used. The Grip on Challenging Behaviour care programme provides a way for dementia special care units to manage challenging behaviour in a structured way and with a multidisciplinary approach making use of their own resources.