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ABSTRACT
Certified nurse assistants (CNAs) spend the most staff time with nursing home residents, yet they receive little training in addressing the mental health needs of residents with serious mental illness (SMI). Forty CNAs from four long-term-care facilities took the online interactive CARES-® Serious Mental Illness™ training consisting of two modules guided by the Recovery Movement philosophy of care. Responses from pre–post testing, Likert-type items, and open-ended questions indicated that CNAs gained information, changed their perspectives, and had more confidence in dealing with SMI. Although there were minor concerns regarding length, clarity of content, and technical issues, CNAs found the online format acceptable and easy to use, and many said they would recommend the training. CARES Serious Mental Illness online training appears to be a viable way of helping CNAs address the mental health needs of long term care residents. Additional testing on CARES Serious Mental Illness is planned.
Acknowledgment
The authors would like to thank Dr. Suzanne Meeks for the expertise she contributed during the filming of the online training, and also Sarah Sommers, CRA, Kathy Confer, and Tomaro Taylor, MA, CA, for their assistance with editing and contributions to technical aspects of this research.
Funding
This research was supported by 1R43MH093017-01 from the National Institute of Mental Health to HealthCare Interactive, Inc (J. V. Hobday, Principal Investigator; V. Molinari, Principal Investigator).
Conflict of interest statement
One of the authors, John Hobday, owns Health Care Interactive and makes his living by providing educational materials, such as CARES Serious Mental Illness training program to long term care settings.