Training for staff who care for clients with dementia
Intended for healthcare professionals
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Training for staff who care for clients with dementia

Stacey Dicks Assistant psychologist, West Hampshire Community Learning Disability Service, Southern Health Foundation NHS Trust, Southampton
Susan Jackson Community learning disability nurse, West Hampshire Community Learning Disability Service, Southern Health Foundation NHS Trust, Southampton
Alannah Pasokhy Occupational therapists, West Hampshire Community Learning Disability Service, Southern Health Foundation NHS Trust, Southampton
Neil Catty Occupational therapists, West Hampshire Community Learning Disability Service, Southern Health Foundation NHS Trust, Southampton
Matthew Symes Consultant clinical psychologist, West Hampshire Community Learning Disability Service, Southern Health Foundation NHS Trust, Southampton

Stacey Dicks and colleagues explore the benefits of training for carers of people with learning disabilities whose clients are more likely than the rest of the population to develop Alzheimer’s

Introduction People with learning disabilities are more likely to develop dementia of the Alzheimer’s type than the general population. Evidence is limited concerning the benefits of person-centred training packages for staff who support people with this diagnosis.

Method A training workshop was developed for paid support staff. Test-retest measures were administered to three staff teams participating in the training workshop pilot.

Results The dementia training workshop improved participants’ understanding of dementia, the difficulties service users with dementia may experience, and how to provide more effective support. Awareness of available support, and confidence working with those with dementia, also increased.

Conclusion The findings of this study support previous research documenting the need for dementia-specific training for staff working with people with learning disabilities. This study also provides evidence of the benefits of facilitating this type of training to supported living staff.

Learning Disability Practice. 18, 9, 28-32. doi: 10.7748/ldp.18.9.28.s26

Correspondence

stacey.dicks@nhs.net

Peer review

This article has been subject to double-blind review and has been checked using antiplagiarism software

Conflict of interest

None declared

Received: 06 August 2015

Accepted: 14 September 2015

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