Dementia-related continuing education for rural interprofessional primary health care in Saskatchewan, Canada: perceptions and needs of webinar participants

Barriers and enablers of dementia training in healthcare workers in rural and remote Australia: A scoping review to inform future approaches to training

INTRODUCTION

Dementia is now responsible for the greatest burden of disease of any chronic illness in older Australians. Rural and remote communities bear the impacts of this disproportionately. Additional training and education for healthcare staff to support people living with dementia is needed.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this scoping review was to map and synthesise the evidence related to barriers and enablers of accessing dementia training for Australian healthcare workers located in rural and remote areas.

DESIGN

This scoping review systematically searched multiple databases in January 2023 for peer-reviewed literature on the topic. Reviewers used Covidence to screen titles and abstracts of located sources, and to screen full-text articles.

FINDINGS

From 187 articles screened, seven peer-reviewed journal articles were included in the final data analysis; all were from Australia or Canada. The most common barrier described was low staffing, precluding release of staff for dementia training. Enablers to participation in dementia training were availability of online training programs, as well as training providers collaborating with end users to ensure the training met their learning needs.

DISCUSSION

This review provides evidence of barriers and enablers specific to rural and remote healthcare workers accessing dementia training. It also explores other approaches to training that have been trialled successfully in different settings.

CONCLUSION

Addressing the identified barriers and enablers may assist in developing training approaches appropriate for existing staff, and in meeting training needs for the future workforce.

Interprofessional education: a necessity in Alzheimer's dementia care-a pilot study

Introduction

Interprofessional collaboration is seen as an indispensable prerequisite for high-quality health services and patient care, especially for complex diseases such as dementia. Thus, the current project aimed to extend interprofessional and competency-based education in the field of dementia care to the previously understudied therapy professions of nutrition, speech-language pathology, and physiotherapy.

Methods

A three-day workshop was designed to provide specific learning objectives related to patient-centered dementia care, as well as competences for interprofessional collaboration. Teaching and learning approaches included case-based learning in simulated interprofessional case-conferences and peer-teaching. A total of 42 students (n = 20 nutrition therapy and counseling, n = 8 speech-language pathology, n = 14 physiotherapy), ranging from first to seventh semester, finished the whole workshop and were considered in data analysis. Changes in self-perceived attitudes toward interprofessional collaboration and education were measured by the German version of the UWE-IP. An in-house questionnaire was developed to evaluate knowledge and skills in the field of dementia, dementia management and interprofessional collaboration.

Results

Participation in the workshop led to significant improvements in the total scores of the UWE-IP-D and the in-house questionnaire, as well as their respective subscales. Moderate to large effect sizes were achieved. All professions improved significantly in both questionnaires with large effect sizes. Significant differences between professions were found in the UWE-IP-D total score between students of speech-language pathology and physiotherapy in the posttest. Students of nutrition therapy and counseling revealed a significant lower level of self-perceived knowledge and skills in the in-house questionnaire pre- and post-testing.

Discussion

The pilot-study confirms the effectiveness of interprofessional education to promote generic and interprofessional dementia care competencies and to develop positive attitudes toward interprofessional learning and collaboration in the therapy professions, thus increasing professional diversity in interprofessional education research. Differences between professions were confounded by heterogenous semester numbers and participation conditions. To achieve a curricular implementation, interprofessional education should be expanded to include a larger group of participants belonging to different professions, start early in the study program, and be evaluated over the long term.

The Influence of Dementia Beliefs and Knowledge on Perceived Dementia Worry: An Empirical Study Among Adults in Rural China

Alzheimer's disease and related dementias are more prevalent in rural areas than in urban areas in China. This study aims to examine the role of dementia beliefs and knowledge in influencing dementia worry among rural adults in China. Data were generated in a cross-sectional survey of 577 participants. Hierarchical regression analyses found that both the beliefs and knowledge of dementia contributed to higher levels of dementia worry. The propensity score matching method affirmed the robustness of regression results. In addition, those aged 45-64 reported higher worry about dementia than those aged 65 or older, while being married was related to lower dementia worry. As one of the first kind studies that examined dementia worry in rural Chinese population, our findings suggest that policy and practice efforts should address cultural beliefs of dementia as they contributed to higher worry about dementia in rural areas.