Social Work Interventions for Dementia, Depression, Delirium and Mental Health Conditions Teaching Module

This PowerPoint teaching module addresses symptoms and interventions for psychiatric conditions including psychotic, cognitive, personality and mood disorders. Explores Schizophrenia, Schizoaffective and Delusional Disorders, Dementia with agitated features, Borderline, Dependent and Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorders, Mood Disorders of Major Depression, Dysthymia and Bipolar Disorder, and cognitive disorders of Dementia and Delirium. Adapting the environment, cognition enhancing medications and behavioral monitor logs are suggested interventions.

Advanced Competencies Addressed in this Module:

• Ability to conduct a comprehensive geriatric assessment of psychosocial factors that affect older persons’ physical and mental well-being
• Designing and implementing service plans to help older people and their families manage/improve functioning with cognitive loss or mental health problems (e.g., depression, dementia, and delirium), health issues, and/or physical functioning
• Designing and implementing interventions related to losses, changes and transitions over the life cycle with particular attention to differentiation of grief from clinical symptoms of depression
• Understanding of the effects and interactions of multiple chronic conditions, medication, nutrition, and sudden or on-going causes of changes in cognitive states and functional capacity