Best Ways to Identify Causes Behind Behaviors in Your Aging Adult

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Certain behaviors that your elder might engage in, such as lashing out or becoming agitated, usually have a cause behind them. Once you narrow down that cause, you can put solutions in place to help your senior so that she’s more comfortable and happier. It’s not always easy to do this, however.

Elder Care Bernardsville NJ - Best Ways to Identify Causes Behind Behaviors in Your Aging Adult

Elder Care Bernardsville NJ – Best Ways to Identify Causes Behind Behaviors in Your Aging Adult

Really Examine What’s Going On

Sometimes behavior looks like one thing on the surface, but if you dig deeper, it tells you something else. Look at whether there was something that happened before the behavior that could have served as a trigger for the behavior. If your elder needs help and doesn’t know how to get it, she may act out in other ways, so it’s important to understand what else is going on.

Determine if There’s a Possible Reason for the Behavior

If your senior can’t communicate well with you, you may have a difficult time figuring out what is going on. Elder care providers can be really helpful in these circumstances because they often have quite a bit of experience in decoding these types of situations. You may not have the exact cause pinpointed right away, but that just means you’ve ruled something out.

Try Some Solutions

When it’s time to try to offer solutions, look first at basic needs. Is your elder hungry or thirsty? Perhaps she needs the bathroom or she’s uncomfortable in other ways. Start with the most important and basic needs and then you can work toward other solutions. Ideally your senior can help you to understand fairly quickly what’s working and what isn’t.

Evaluate How Well the Solutions Worked

Once you’ve figured the situation out, it’s time to do some evaluation. Take a look at what cues you missed early on and how that affected the rest of the situation. If you try more than a few solutions that don’t work, your senior might become even more frustrated and uncooperative. As you gain experience decoding behaviors, you can use what you learn.

Always talk to your aging adult’s doctor about new behaviors that you’re noticing. There may be a medical cause that her doctor can help you to narrow down.

If you or an aging loved one are considering hiring professional Elder Care Services in Bernardsville NJ, please talk to the caring staff at Generations Home Health Care today. Providing Home Care in Somerset, Essex, Union, Morris and Hunterdon Counties. Call us today at (908) 290-0691 or (973) 241-4534.

Susan Myer, RN, BSN, CCRN, CDP