Graduation Semester and Year
Spring 2026
Language
English
Document Type
DNP Project
Degree Name
Doctor of Nursing Practice
Department
Nursing
First Advisor
Dr. Tiffany Trent
Second Advisor
Dr. Cathy Brown
Abstract
There is currently a gap in accurate screening and treatment of anxiety in Long-Term Care (LTC) nursing facilities. The question for this quality improvement project was: Will implementing interventions for long-term care residents aged 65 and older improve anxiety screening, non-pharmacological interventions, and mental health referrals by 10% compared to current practices? Interventions to enhance anxiety screening included the Geriatric Anxiety Scale-Long Term Care (GAS-LTC) tool to assess and score anxiety. In addition, a Non-Pharmacological Intervention (Non-PI) tool was created to evaluate interventions performed by facility staff. Referrals to the mental health care provider were submitted if a resident scored above 5 on the GAS-LTC. The project found that the number of referrals increased 48% compared to the previous year. Non-PIs could not be compared due to a lack of previous documentation. However, there were secondary statistically significant findings.
Keywords
Anxiety, Geriatric, Older Adult, Long Term Care, Facility, Mental Health, Nursing, Screening, GAS-LTC, Non-Pharmacological, DNP, Project
Disciplines
Community Health | Geriatrics | Primary Care | Psychiatric and Mental Health
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Bryson, Sundan G., "Implementing an Anxiety Management Bundle in Long-Term Nursing Facilities" (2026). Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Scholarly Projects-Archive. 137.
https://mavmatrix.uta.edu/nursing_dnpprojects/137
Included in
Community Health Commons, Geriatrics Commons, Primary Care Commons, Psychiatric and Mental Health Commons