STAFF EXPECTATION AS A MEDIATOR OF FUNCTIONAL STATUS

相当多的研究表明，预期 个体之间的相互影响会导致客观上的变化 为“实现”这些期望而行动的表现和行为。 这些人际期望效应是普遍而有力的。 各种结果的决定因素，并一直是 在教室、工作场所和许多其他环境中学习。 这项拟议的研究旨在阐明人际关系是如何 预期效应发生在医护人员和老年人之间 疗养院的居民，这一群体可能会受到这种影响 具有重要的临床意义。 这项研究是一项随机对照试验，研究的是 养老院环境中的人际期望。六十 新获准长期合作的合资格同意书居民 定期护理机构将接受一组评估，以 衡量他们在几个领域的表现，包括影响， 日常生活的认知和活动。一半的参赛者 居民将被随机分配到一个指定为 具有“特别高的康复潜力”。其他 居民将被确定为具有更典型的预期 结果。合作设施中的护士和助手将 要求每周对两组居民进行评估，以及 将知道每个居民的小组分配情况。结果 措施将在三个月和六个月后重新实施，使用 与最初使用的评估电池相同。我们假设 “高期望值人群”的居民实际上将拥有 在认知、情感和/或方面有客观可衡量的改善 自我护理与居民在“典型”结果中的比较 一群人。第二个对照组也将被研究。此外, 录像带记录了看守人和居民之间的互动 将对小组进行记录和分析，以评估口头和非 口头调解的预期效果。这样的工作应该 对培训和管理有重要影响 长期护理环境中的医护人员，以及护理 一般都是老年人。

Considerable research suggests that the expectations that individuals have about one another can cause objective changes in performance and behavior that act to "fulfill" those expectations. These interpersonal expectancy effects are common and powerful determinants of a wide variety of outcomes, and have been studied in the classroom, workplace, and numerous other settings. The proposed study is designed to shed light on how interpersonal expectancy effects occur between health care workers and elderly residents of nursing homes, a group in whom such effects may well have important clinical significance. This study is a randomized controlled trial of the effects of interpersonal expectancy in the nursing home setting. Sixty eligible consenting residents newly admitted to cooperating long term care facilities will be administered an assessment battery to meaure their performance in several domains, including affect, cognition, and activities of daily living. Half of the participating residents will be randomly assigned to a group designated as having "particularly high rehabilitation potential". Other residents will be identified as having more typical expected outcomes. Nurses and aides in the cooperating facilities will be asked to evaluate residents in both groups on a weekly basis, and will be aware of the group assignment of each resident. Outcome measures will be re-administered at three and six months using the same assessment battery used initially. We hypothesize that residents in the "high expectancy group" will in fact have objectively measurable improvements in cognition, affect, and/or self-care as compared with residents in the "typical" outcome group. A second control group will also be studied. In addition, video taped interactions between caretakers and residents in both groups will be recorded and analyzed to assess verbal and non- verbal mediation of the expectancy effects. Such work should have important implications for the training and management of health care workers in long term care settings, and for care of the elderly in general.