The Impact of Aliviado Dementia Care—Hospice Edition Training Program on Hospice Staff's Dementia Symptom Knowledge

Context: As the aging population grows, the incidence of dementia continues to increase substantially. However, the lack of a significant geriatric health care workforce as well as little dementia training among generalist health care workers leads to suboptimal care for persons living with dementia (PLWD). In particular, few evidence-based interventions exist to improve the quality of dementia care among hospice interdisciplinary teams caring for PLWD. Aliviado Dementia Care—Hospice Edition is a quality assurance and performance improvement program that includes training, mentoring, and workflow enhancements, which aims to improve quality of hospice care provided to PLWD and their caregivers. Objectives: To determine the effectiveness of the Aliviado Dementia Care program in increasing dementia symptom knowledge of hospice interdisciplinary team members. Methods: About 53 hospice team members from two diverse hospices, consisting of social workers, chaplains, physicians, and nurses, participated in the Aliviado training program. In this prepost trial, 39 participants completed the Dementia Symptom Knowledge Assessment before and after completion of the program. Results: Paired t-tests showed significant differences before and after Aliviado training in depression knowledge and confidence, as well as behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) knowledge, confidence, and interventions. The greatest percent change increases were in depression (15.2%) and BPSD (13.3%) confidence as well as BPSD interventions (18.4%). Qualitative feedback consistently emphasized that trainees could now effectively assess their patients for specific symptoms such as pain and agitation. Conclusion: Aliviado is an evidence-based system-level intervention that improves clinical knowledge, attitudes, and confidence in treating PLWD enrolled in hospice.