Evaluation of dementia education programs for pre-registration healthcare students—A review of the literature

Abstract

Please cite this article as: Alushi, Ledia, Hammond, John.A., Wood, Julia H., Evaluation of dementia education programs for pre-registration healthcare students -A review of the literature, Nurse Education Today (2015Today ( ), doi: 10.1016Today ( /j.nedt.2015 This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. A C C E P T E D M A N U S C R I P T A C C E P T E D M A N U S C R I P T ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT A C C E P T E D M A N U S C R I P T ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT EVALUATION OF DEMENTIA EDUCATION PROGRAMS FOR PRE-REGISTRATION HEALTHCARE STUDENTS -A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT EVALUATION OF DEMENTIA EDUCATION PROGRAMS FOR PRE-REGISTRATION HEALTHCARE STUDENTS -A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE 3 Highlights• Nine studies of pre-registration education programmes on dementia were identified.• Knowledge, confidence and attitudes to people with dementia were the target of interventions.• Practice based experience proceeded by theory was most effective.• There is a need for more rigorous studies to establish best practice in dementia education. ABSTRACT ObjectivesIn an aging society, the number of people living with dementia is rapidly increasing. Health care students receive little input on dementia during their pre-registration education, hence there is a requirement to improve education to work with this client group. The review aimed to focus on education on working with people with dementia for pre-registration healthcare students. DesignA comprehensive review of the literature. Data SourcesOnline databases Medline, PsychInfo, CINAHL, Science Direct and PubMed were used. Review MethodsThe studies were selected according to the following criteria: main focus on education and training on working with people with dementia in pre-registration healthcare programs. Reports that described a training program but did not include evaluation were excluded. For inclusion, studies had to be published in English between January 2007 and March 2014. Identified papers were screened and reviewed by the three authors. A C C E P T E D M A N U S C R I P T ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT EVALUATION OF DEMENTIA EDUCATION PROGRAMS FOR PRE-REGISTRATION HEALTHCARE STUDENTS -A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE ResultsNine studies met the inclusion criteria. Most studies were based in North America, predominantly in nursing and medical education. Educational interventions chiefly aimed to improve students' knowledge, comfort level and attitudes towards people with dementia. It was shown that theoretical input alone did not give students the necessary skills to work with people with dementia.Educational interventions were most effective when a practice ba...

A feasibility study of dementia communication training based on the VERA framework for pre-registration nurses: Part II impact on student experience

“…Similar to other preregistration training (Wood et al, 2016, Alushi et al, 2015, Jackson et al, 2016 the intervention shows promise, but the impact on student behaviour and the quality of interaction with patients should be evaluated using observational methodologies. The dementia training combined with experiences from clinical placement was likely to be synergistic.…”

“…The inadequate preparation of qualified staff, is compounded by a lack of compulsory foundation level training in preregistration curricula for all health care professionals (HCP) (Alushi et al, 2015). One of the difficulties for educators is the lack of consensus on what constitutes foundation level communication skills in dementia and no readily available evidence-based training packages (Wood et al, 2016).…”

“…This article is the second of two reporting on a feasibility study of a foundation level dementia communication training based on the VERA framework (Blackhall et al, 2011). BACKGROUND Systematic reviews suggest that any type of dementia training is welcomed by staff and students as it increases awareness and knowledge, but such training does not necessarily result in behaviour change (Alushi et al, 2015, Eggenberger et al, 2013, Machiels et al, 2017. There are well documented contextual reasons for why it is difficult to maintain new behaviours in practice (Michie et al, 2014), especially behaviours as complex as person centred communication with people living with dementia.…”

How do we enhance undergraduate healthcare education in dementia? A review of the role of innovative approaches and development of the Time for Dementia Programme

“…There is a developing literature on the value of time-limited placements in non-traditional settings such as care homes. Alushi et al (2015) reviewed such programs for pre-registration healthcare students and found them to be focussed on improvement in dementia knowledge, attitudes and comfort when working with people with dementia, but generally to be of short duration with their evaluations often short-term, using unvalidated quantitative tools and not including impacts on people with dementia.…”

Incentivising a career in older adult nursing: The views of student nurses

“…There is tension between increasing service demand for nurses in aged care yet diminishing interest among nursing students to pursue a career in this sector (Carlson & Idvall, , Neville et al, , 2016). This disparity has been well documented for over two decades, and while there have been small innovative projects in preregistration education to stimulate interest, there is no evidence of impact on student nurse intention to work or recruitment in older adult services (Alushi, Hammond, & Wood, ; Brown, Nolan, Davies, Nolan, & Keady, ; Koehler et al, ; Koskinen, Salminen, Puukka, & Leino‐Kilpi, ; Robinson et al, ; Rodgers & Gilmour, ).…”