4.8 Grooming and Dressing

For people living with physical or cognitive impairments, dressing and grooming tasks are often difficult to manage alone, and they might get frustrated because they cannot do what they once were able to do — they may take their frustration out on the people around them. As HCAs, you can help and encourage your clients to feel supported and capable. All your clients’ daily living activities should include basic personal grooming habits that enhance their well-being and self-esteem. When assisting with grooming and dressing, the HCA needs to understand the client’s needs, their cultural, religious, or other preferences, and their ability to carry out those tasks.

Grooming and getting dressed involves several steps and the use of many different skills. Sometimes caregivers forget that older adults, and those with cognitive impairments, find it challenging to carry out these steps. If the client becomes confused or frustrated, they may become irritable, uncooperative, or upset. There are some strategies that you can use to help clients manage their grooming and dressing:

• Keep the environment calm and pleasant. Turn down, or turn off, any TV or loud music.
• Provide frequent, gentle reminders.
• Find appropriate preferences. Consider what your patient finds important in their clothes. For example, let the client wear their favorite color.
• Use friendly conversation. This is a helpful and positive distraction technique to keep the client’s anxieties lower.
• Space out grooming tasks. Get patients to complete one thing at a time (allow them to wash their face before asking them to brush their teeth, for example).
• Simplify clothing choices. Putting out an outfit for the care receiver to wear, or give an option of only two outfits.
• Be flexible. Wearing a bra or pantyhose may not be important to them, especially if it’s an added stressor.
• Give time. Allow the clients to do as much as they can for themselves. For example, let the client put the sweater on and help with the small buttons.
• Consider easy-to-use clothes. Adaptive clothing may include large front fasteners (zippers or Velcro), elastic waistbands, and slip-on shoes.
• Minimize stress. If the person has a weak side, for example, put the painful or weak arm into a shirt, pullover, or jacket before the strong arm. When taking them off, take out the strong arm first.