Department of Nursing, Tzu Chi University of Science and Technology, No. 880, Sec. 2, Chien-Kuo Road, Hualien City, 970046, Taiwan.
Institute of Medical Sciences, Tzu Chi University, 701 Zhongyang Road, Sec. 3, Hualien City, 97004, Taiwan.
BMC Geriatr. 2021 Feb 16;21(1):126. doi: 10.1186/s12877-021-02075-3.
Caring of older adults with dementia at home can be challenging for home care workers. There is a need to develop suitable training for home care workers to improve the quality of dementia care. We evaluated a 12-week dementia care training including mobile e-learning, social networking, and mentoring support group meetings on the dementia care knowledge, attitude, and competence of home care workers.
This controlled study involved 140 home care workers from two home care agencies, which were selected from 12 home care agencies in eastern Taiwan. The two home care agencies were randomly allocated either the intervention group or the control group. The intervention group received mobile e-learning, mentor-led online social support networking, and monthly face-to-face mentoring support group meetings. Participants in the control group received 8-h conventional lectures. The primary outcomes were knowledge, attitude, and competence in dementia care. Questionnaires consisting of the Dementia Knowledge Assessment Scale, Approaches to Dementia Questionnaire, and Sense of Competence in Dementia Care Staff scale were administered to the participants at three time points (baseline, end of the 12-week intervention, and 12 weeks after the end of the intervention).
Generalized estimating equation analyses showed that the intervention significantly improved the knowledge, attitude, and competence of home care workers on dementia care. The effects remained significant even 12 weeks after the end of the intervention.
A 12-week dementia care training program consisting of mobile e-learning, social networking, and face-to-face mentoring support group meetings were found to a feasible approach in improving the knowledge, attitude, and competence of home care workers. Mobile e-learning and online environment provides a platform that is self-directed, flexible, accessible, and cost-effective for training home care workers. The findings provide a call to action for nurse educators and policy makers to re-design existing dementia care training for home care workers to meet the critical home care needs of a growing dementia population.
ClinicalTrials.gov. NCT03822286 . Registration date: 27/01/2019. Posted date: 31/01/2019.
家庭护理员在家中照顾痴呆老年人可能具有挑战性。因此，需要为家庭护理员制定合适的培训计划，以提高痴呆护理的质量。我们评估了一项为期 12 周的痴呆护理培训，包括移动电子学习、社交网络和指导支持小组会议，以了解家庭护理员的痴呆护理知识、态度和能力。
这项对照研究涉及来自台湾东部 12 家家庭护理机构中的 2 家机构的 140 名家庭护理员。这两家家庭护理机构被随机分配到干预组或对照组。干预组接受移动电子学习、指导在线社交支持网络和每月面对面指导支持小组会议。对照组的参与者接受 8 小时的传统讲座。主要结局是痴呆护理的知识、态度和能力。在三个时间点（基线、12 周干预结束时和干预结束后 12 周）向参与者发放包含痴呆知识评估量表、痴呆处理方法问卷和痴呆护理人员能力感量表的问卷。
广义估计方程分析显示，干预组显著提高了家庭护理员的痴呆护理知识、态度和能力。即使在干预结束后 12 周，这种效果仍然显著。
由移动电子学习、社交网络和面对面指导支持小组会议组成的为期 12 周的痴呆护理培训计划被发现是提高家庭护理员知识、态度和能力的可行方法。移动电子学习和在线环境为培训家庭护理员提供了一个自主、灵活、便捷且具有成本效益的平台。这些发现呼吁护士教育者和政策制定者重新设计现有的家庭护理员痴呆护理培训，以满足日益增长的痴呆患者的家庭护理需求。
ClinicalTrials.gov. NCT03822286. 注册日期：2019 年 1 月 27 日。发布日期：2019 年 1 月 31 日。
