ABSTRACT
In the United States, the family is the primary unit for the delivery of development and nurturance. Most people are born into a family, and most people live their lives and die in a family. Treatment procedures for mental health problems in institutional population are particularly important to long-term care providers, families, practitioners, and gerontologists. With limited resources, increased awareness of the limits of long-term care arrangements and an increasing population of older persons with behavioral difficulties, the development of mental health interventions is essential. Taking good care of nursing home residents is largely a matter of behavior: the staff's and the residents' behavior. From the residents' point of view, the most important part of a nursing home environment is the behavior of the staff. Behavioral science has developed useful procedures that can add an important structure to that environment.
