Abstract
The goal of this project was to develop a portable, Internet-based multimedia education program (IBME) to provide a more efficient training resource for direct care workers (DCWs) who care for nursing home residents suffering from late-stage dementia. Thirty-four DCWs from 8 nursing homes in 8 states completed 5 posttest open-ended questions and 20 Likert items on the feasibility, strengths, and weaknesses of the IBME prototype. Pre- and post-test surveys also examined whether late-stage dementia care knowledge changed significantly. More than 90% of DCWs "agreed" or "strongly agreed" that the IBME prototype improved DCWs' feelings of competency and everyday care delivery. Open-ended comments offered several suggestions for improvement, including group-based discussion of the modules. Results also indicate that DCWs' late-stage dementia care knowledge significantly increased (P <.001) following completion of the IBME modules. The IBME prototype offers an online, asynchronous training strategy to enhance dementia-pertinent knowledge and skills related to everyday care delivery in nursing homes.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 402-411 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | Geriatric Nursing |
| Volume | 31 |
| Issue number | 6 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Nov 2010 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This research was supported by a grant from the National Institute on Aging (Grant No. 1R43AG026210-01 ; John Hobday, Principal Investigator). Mr. Hobday is the Chief Executive Officer of HealthCare Interactive, Incorporated, the company that has developed and is selling the Internet-based multimedia education prototype version of this program. Ms. Savik is Co-Investigator and biostatistician of the National Institute on Aging grant that supported the results presented in this article. Dr. Gaugler is a scientific consultant with HealthCare Interactive, Incorporated. We thank Stan Smith, MD, for his clinical contributions. Please address all correspondence related to this article to Joseph E. Gaugler, PhD, Associate Professor and McKnight Presidential Fellow, School of Nursing, University of Minnesota, 308 Harvard Street S.E., Minneapolis, MN 55455; e-mail: gaug0015@umn.edu ; phone: (612) 626-2485; fax: (612) 625-7180.