title: Development and testing of the Dementia Symptom Management at Home (DSM-H) program: An interprofessional home health care intervention to improve the quality of life for persons with dementia and their caregivers.
abstract: Home health care agencies are increasingly taking care of sicker, older patients with greater comorbidities. However, they are unequipped to appropriately manage these older adults, particular persons living with dementia (PLWD). We therefore developed the Dementia Symptom Management at Home (DSM-H) Program, a bundled interprofessional intervention, to improve the care confidence of providers, and quality of care delivered to PLWD and their caregivers. We implemented the DSM-H with 83 registered nurses, physical therapists, and occupational therapists. Overall, there was significant improvement in pain knowledge (5.9%) and confidence (26.5%), depression knowledge (14.8%) and confidence (36.1%), and neuropsychiatric symptom general knowledge (16.8%), intervention knowledge (20.9%), attitudes (3.4%) and confidence (27.1%) at a statistical significance of (P < .0001). We also found significant differences between disciplines. Overall, this disseminable program proved to be implementable and improve clinician's knowledge and confidence in caring for PLWD, with the potential to improve quality of care and quality of life, and decrease costs.
authors.affiliation: Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing, NYU College of Nursing, USA; James J Peters Bronx VA, GRECC, USA. Electronic address: Ab.Brody@nyu.edu.
authors.forename: Abraham A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Brody
authors.affiliation: Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing, NYU College of Nursing, USA.
authors.forename: Carrie
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Guan
authors.affiliation: Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing, NYU College of Nursing, USA.
authors.forename: Tara
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Cortes
authors.affiliation: Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine, Florida Atlantic University, USA; Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing, Florida Atlantic University, USA.
authors.forename: James E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Galvin
mesh_terms: D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006699:Home Care Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D064691:Nurses, Community Health / Q000193:education*
keywords: Alzheimer's disease; Dementia; Geriatrics; Home health care; Implementation science; Interdisciplinary; Interprofessional