Outcomes in knowledge, attitudes and confidence of nursing staff working in nursing and residential care homes following a dementia training programme

ABSTRACT

Objectives: Dementia training programmes for staff working in long-term care settings have been found to be effective in improving staff outcomes. This study investigated the impact of a dementia training programme for all Maltese nursing staff working in public nursing/residential homes on their knowledge, attitudes and confidence. Additionally, we identified the predictors of these domains before and after the programme.

Method: A 14-hour training programme focusing on dementia management, care and policy was developed for all nursing staff working in public nursing and residential homes in Malta. A pretest-posttest design was used to evaluate the participants’ knowledge of dementia, attitudes and confidence in working with residents with dementia using validated tools. Demographic variables were measured and compared with each staff domain.

Results: The majority of nursing staff attended the training programme with 261 fully completed questionnaires being collected pre-training and 214 post-training. The programme significantly improved nursing staff knowledge, attitudes and confidence. Stepwise regression analysis of each staff domain showed that the strongest predictor in all models at pre-training was the intensity of previous training programmes. Furthermore, staff who attended previous training continued to improve in their attitudes and confidence following programme completion.

Conclusion: The study continues to shed further evidence on the impact of dementia training programs on staff outcomes. It also indicated that the intensity of previous participation in dementia training programmes was related to the participants’ knowledge, attitudes and confidence and that continual exposure to training had a cumulative effect.

KEYWORDS:

• Dementia and cognitive disorders
• nursing and residential care homes
• training and educational programmes
• knowledge, attitudes and confidence
• nurses

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the staff who attended the training programme, the lecturers who presented the sessions and the administrative staff involved in coordinating the programme.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The training programme was part-financed by the European Union through the European Social Fund under the operational programme OPII Empowering People for More Jobs and a Better Quality of Life — Capacity Building in care for the Elderly and Persons with Disability [grant number ESF 4.242].