Exploring the effects of training facilitators of dementia-family support programs

ABSTRACT

Dementia patients have various caregiving needs, which can be serious sources of stress for their families. The increasing numbers of dementia patients and their families mean that new interventions are required to help families provide these complex caregiving needs. Facilitators of dementia-family support programs struggle to provide various health and social services while facing diverse challenges when running these programs. The purpose of this study was to determine the self-efficacy, competence, and target complaints when operating a dementia-family support program among facilitators who had participated in a facilitator training program. The study had a one-group pretest and posttest design, and data from 32 facilitators at 28 community dementia centers were analyzed. We used a self-reported questionnaire to collect quantitative and qualitative data before and after participating in the training program. The self-efficacy and competence of the facilitators increased after participating in the training program and operating their own dementia-family support program. Target complaints that represented challenges to operating a dementia-family support program were divided into five categories, and most of them decreased at the posttest. This study has demonstrated the advantages of providing a training program to facilitators, which resulted in improvements in self-efficacy, competence, and difficulties when they were operating a dementia-family support program.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by research fund of Chungnam National University.