The PorchLight Project

Project Summary/Abstract The proposed R01 project will feature a robust collaboration between Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota (LSS-MN) and the University of Minnesota to evaluate the “Porchlight Project,” a novel adaption of its volunteer programs that serve older persons with Alzheimer’s disease or Alzheimer’s disease related dementia (AD/ADRD). The Porchlight Project is multicomponent training delivered to volunteers and includes three established online training modules on person-centered dementia care; a four-session online training program that demonstrates to volunteers how to apply person-centered dementia care knowledge to their interactions with persons with dementia and their caregivers; and ongoing monthly coaching sessions. We will evaluate the real-world efficacy of the Porchlight Project throughout Minnesota and randomly assign a minimum of 171 persons with AD/ADRD, family caregivers, and volunteers across 19 Regional Program Coordinator regions to one of two groups: one that receives the Porchlight Project over a 12-month period and a usual care control condition that receives standard volunteer support. An embedded experimental mixed methods design will be utilized that will incorporate various qualitative data collection elements within the 12-month randomized controlled evaluation of the Porchlight Project (Stage III of the NIH Stage Model). Twelve month outcomes that we hypothesize the Porchlight Project will influence include: 1) increased volunteer competence; 2) increases in quality of life and reduced loneliness for the person with AD/ADRD; and 3) increased self-efficacy, decreased stress, and improved well-being for caregivers. The Porchlight Project offers a potentially efficient, wide-ranging service model for states and communities to implement that can facilitate the “dementia capability” of their various volunteer programs. Moreover, creating effective linkages to community-based long-term services and supports addresses several goals of the National Plan to Address Alzheimer’s Disease as well as the recent Dementia Care Services and Support summits.