Table 4.

Staff Nonverbal Behaviors

Behaviors	n	%
Staff Person-centered Behaviors
A. Modifications of resident abilities	745	41.9
Positioning resident appropriately	20	2.7
Adjusting to resident’s pace	38	5.1
Offering different type of food	18	2.4
Offering beverage	174	23.4
Offering finger food	4	0.5
Offering condiments	8	1.1
Putting item in container/utensil resident can manage	25	3.4
Giving a bite of appropriate size	315	42.3
Guiding resident’s hand to pick up food	11	1.5
Putting food/utensil in resident’s hand	44	5.9
Holding resident hand to get food into mouth	19	2.6
Wiping away oral spillage or drool	69	9.3
B. Modifications of (social/interpersonal) care approaches	623	35.1
Adjusting proximity	22	3.5
Attempting to gain attention	124	19.9
Positive gestures/facial expressions	112	18.0
Appropriate use of affectionate touch	131	21.0
Assessing comfort	31	5.0
Affirmative nodding	68	10.9
Resident-directed gaze	135	21.6
C. Modifications of dining environment	242	13.6
Modifying traffic	0	0.0
Modifying noise level	0	0.0
Reducing clutter	44	18.2
Limiting distractions	11	4.5
Arranging/mixing edible items for easy access	135	55.8
Cutting food into manageable size	31	12.8
Providing/adjusting/taking away assistive devices/items	21	8.7
Staff Task-centered Behaviors	167	9.4
Ignoring/lack of interaction	69	41.3
Physically controlling	15	9.0
Inappropriate touch	4	2.4
Outpacing	12	7.2
Discouraging/taking over resident self-eating attempt	5	3.0
Leaving the table/resident	56	33.5
Non-affirmative nodding	6	3.6

Note. Total number of staff nonverbal behaviors = 1,777.