Cognitive & Behavioral Care in Long-Term Settings [LTC-05-EN]

Cognitive & Behavioral Care in Long-Term Settings [LTC-05-EN]

Behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) — including agitation, verbal aggression, wandering, and social withdrawal — affect an estimated 90% of people living with dementia at some point during their illness, yet these expressions are routinely misinterpreted as conduct to be suppressed rather than distress signals requiring clinical attention. In long-term care (LTC) environments across Georgia and the broader South Caucasus region, where specialist psychogeriatric consultation remains limited and care staff training in dementia-specific communication is inconsistently structured, this misreading carries direct consequences: inappropriate use of antipsychotic medications, physical restraint, preventable deterioration, and violations of residents’ dignity and rights. The WHO Global Action Plan on the Public Health Response to Dementia 2017–2025 explicitly identifies person-centered care competency and BPSD management as priority workforce development areas, and accreditation frameworks — including Joint Commission International (JCI) long-term care standards and the Georgian Social Service Agency’s ASF requirements — increasingly mandate demonstrable staff competency in this domain. This course addresses that competency gap with clinical rigor and practical immediacy.

The curriculum is grounded in the evidence base established by the Cochrane systematic reviews on non-pharmacological BPSD interventions, the NICE guideline NG97 on dementia care, and WHO’s iSupport programme, integrating validated behavioral assessment instruments including the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI-Q) and the Cohen-Mansfield Agitation Inventory (CMAI). Instruction follows an applied learning model: case-based scenarios drawn from realistic LTC care contexts are used to build decision-making capacity alongside conceptual understanding, ensuring participants can transfer knowledge directly to their care setting. International standards from ISO 9001 quality management frameworks and JCI Person-Centered Care chapters are referenced throughout to align competency development with formal accreditation expectations.

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Distinguish between the neurological, environmental, and unmet-need triggers that generate specific behavioral expressions in residents with dementia, using a structured functional analysis framework.
• Apply the Cohen-Mansfield Agitation Inventory (CMAI) and the Neuropsychiatric Inventory — Questionnaire (NPI-Q) to systematically document and monitor behavioral symptoms across care episodes.
• Implement a minimum four-step non-pharmacological intervention pathway — environmental modification, communication adaptation, meaningful activity, and sensory support — before escalating to pharmacological review.
• Evaluate the appropriateness and proportionality of physical and chemical restraint use against JCI and Georgian legislative standards, identifying when current practice constitutes a reportable safeguarding concern.
• Design a individualized behavioral support plan that incorporates life history, preserved strengths, cultural identity, and documented care preferences in alignment with person-centered care principles.
• Construct documentation entries and incident records that meet ASF accreditation audit requirements, accurately reflecting behavioral observations, interventions applied, outcomes, and multi-disciplinary communication.

Who Should Attend

This course is designed for nurses, social workers, psychologists, care assistants, and allied health professionals working in residential long-term care facilities, memory care units, or day-care programs serving older adults with cognitive impairment. It is equally relevant to facility supervisors, clinical leads, and quality officers responsible for workforce development, accreditation readiness, or internal training program design. Professionals at all career stages will benefit, including those new to dementia care seeking foundational competency and experienced practitioners seeking evidence-based recalibration of existing practice.

Course Structure

This course is delivered entirely online through the GMJ Academy learning platform, comprising six structured modules with an estimated study time of 5–6 hours; each module integrates instructional content, clinical case analyses, and reflective exercises, concluding with a competency-based assessment that must be passed at 75% or above to qualify for certification. Participants who successfully complete the course receive a GMJ Academy certificate of completion carrying continuing professional development (CPD) credits recognized within Georgia’s healthcare workforce development framework.