A dementia care training using mobile e-learning with mentoring support for home care workers: a controlled study

BACKGROUND: 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. METHODS: 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). RESULTS: 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. CONCLUSIONS: 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. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov. NCT03822286. Registration date: 27/01/2019. Posted date: 31/01/2019.