Behavioral disorders related to illness: methods and multidisciplinary coordination

Behavioral Disorders Related to Illness: Methods and Multidisciplinary Coordination

Understanding, Preventing, Intervening, and Coordinating as a Team

👩‍⚕️ Target Audience Healthcare professionals, caregiving teams in nursing homes, hospital services, home care services, and support structures for people living with Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, depression, bipolar disorder, or any condition that may alter behavior.

⏱️ Duration 2 days of training (14 hours) divided into 6 progressive modules

💻 Format 100% online training, accessible from your computer or tablet. You progress at your own pace, whenever you wish, without time constraints.

What You Will Learn

Supporting a person whose behavior is changing — agitation, refusal of care, opposition, wandering, shouting — requires much more than patience. It requires understanding what is happening, adapting your actions, coordinating your interventions with the team, and preserving your own capacity to care over time.

This training provides you with a solid clinical framework to interpret behaviors: a behavior is never “gratuitous”; it always expresses something — pain, confusion, an unmet need, sensory overload, anxiety, or a poorly adjusted environment. You will learn to connect behavioral manifestations to underlying pathologies and identify modifiable triggering factors.

You will discover concrete non-pharmacological interventions: environmental adjustments, structuring of care, positive communication, and personalization of the care pathway. You will master crisis management and de-escalation protocols, coordination of roles within the team, and the importance of post-episode analysis to prevent recurrences.

You will also learn to build the caregiver-patient alliance, involve the family appropriately, and practice self-regulation to avoid professional burnout. Finally, you will know how to structure targeted communications, respect legal and ethical frameworks, and integrate cognitive stimulation tools into the support project.

By the end of this training, you will be able to:

Understand the Clinical Framework of Pathologies and Behaviors

• Connect behaviors to underlying pathologies: Alzheimer’s (disorientation, evening agitation), Parkinson’s (anxiety, apathy, hallucinations, “on/off” periods), depression (irritability, refusal, somatic complaints), bipolar disorder (sleep as an alert marker)
• Identify common causes that mimic or worsen a disorder: pain, uncorrected sensory issues, environmental factors (noise, lighting, temperature)
• Map behavioral disorders: agitation, aggression, refusal of care, opposition, disinhibition, psychotic disorders, apathy, anxiety, irritability, sleep disorders, risky behaviors
• Qualify the impact on follow-up in five dimensions: essential care, safety, cognitive and emotional load on the person, organization of care, clinical trajectory
• Consider the impact on caregivers: cognitive load, emotional load, disorganization of the position
• Prioritize according to severity: critical level (act now), high level (intervene within the hour), moderate level (adjust and reassess)

Implement Non-Pharmacological Interventions

• Adjust the environment: appropriate lighting according to the time of day, noise reduction, orientation cues, secure bathrooms and bedrooms, calming dining areas
• Structure care in five stages: prepare, make contact, guide (rule 1-1-1), close, document
• Practice positive communication: alignment of verbal/non-verbal/action, emotional validation, binary choices, adapted rhythm and prosody, adjustments for language disorders
• Personalize the pathway: brief biography, shared goals, personalized rituals, IF-THEN plans, tracking indicators, family involvement

Manage Crises and Post-Episode

• Secure the scene immediately: peripheral vision, opening the space, proportionate distancing, reducing pack mentality, minimizing stimuli
• Apply the de-escalation protocol in 6 phases: framework, validate and name the rhythm, reduce cognitive load, provide possible control, anchor and stabilize, decide and close
• Coordinate roles within the team: leader, support, scribe, family/third-party reference
• Conduct the post-episode: immediate recovery (10 minutes), mini-debrief (24 hours), prevention of recurrences (7 days)
• Document the event usefully: context, trigger and sequence, measures taken, facilitating/aggravating factors, decision and short-term plan

Work on the Emotional Dimension and the Care Relationship

• Connect mood and behaviors: identifying anxiety/tension, speed/energy, self-esteem and adapting interventions
• Build the caregiver-patient alliance: trust through micro-commitments, shared and negotiated goals, predictability through routine
• Involve the family: provide useful information, define specific roles (calm anchor, keeper of cues, transition manager), explicit relational pact, protection for caregivers
• Practice self-regulation: preparation before the act, management during (rhythm, STOP loop, regulation through action), decompression afterward
• Recognize early signs of burnout and trigger appropriate actions

Ensure Safety and Prevent Risks

• Limit fall risks: short screening, targeted adjustments, transition rituals, three-stage lifting
• Prevent elopement: change of scene, secure exits, reinforcement of cues, proportionate measures
• Secure the night and transitions: end-of-day preparation, bedtime ritual, bed-to-toilet transition, team organization
• Respect legal and ethical frameworks: adapted informed consent, proportionality of measures, dignity and modesty, useful traceability, confidentiality
• Structure targeted communications: priority reason, recent pattern, tested actions, ongoing decisions, expectations for the next shift

You will leave with concrete tools: impact assessment grids, 6-phase de-escalation protocol, documentation template, IF-THEN sheets, team rituals (brief/debrief), and self-regulation methods applicable starting tomorrow.

Bonus: Introduction to the EDITH applications (memory coach without pressure, ideal for people with cognitive disorders) and JOE (brain coach for motivated adults), featuring 30+ games targeting memory, attention, perception, language, and planning — to be integrated into the personalized support project.