A Survey on Dementia Training Needs Among Staff at Community-Based Outpatient Clinics

Dementia is a major public health concern. Educating health-care providers about dementia warning signs, diagnosis, and management is paramount to fostering clinical competence and improving patient outcomes. The objective of this project was to describe and identify educational and training needs of staff at community-based outpatient clinics related to treating and managing veterans with dementia. Health professionals took an online survey consisting of questions related to general knowledge and skills in working with veterans with dementia and their families, staff training, and attitudes toward people with dementia. Most participants considered knowledge of dementia important; however, few reported having received training in dementia care within the past year. Furthermore, over half of participants considered themselves beginners in terms of knowledge and skills in dementia care. Regarding training needs, topics that could improve the overall care of veterans with dementia and their caregivers were most often cited. Participants reported being most satisfied with in-person training. Physicians rated their dementia knowledge and skill as greater than nurses'/other medical professionals’ and support staff's. Compared with support staff, nurses/other medical professionals held more positive attitudes toward persons with dementia. Survey results suggest that staff are interested in improving knowledge of, and skills for, working with persons with dementia, and that job classification is associated with differences in attitudes.     

Assessment of health-care professionals’ knowledge and attitudes on sexuality and aging: an integrative review

ABSTRACT

This study aims to establish an understanding of (a) health-care professionals’ knowledge and attitudes; and (b) tools used to assess sexuality in older people living with/(out) dementia and those identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, or intersex (LGBTI) individuals. An integrative review of the literature, as registered on the PROSPERO international Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (CRD42019129589), was conducted. A comprehensive and systematic literature search was performed for the period between 2009 to 2019 across eight electronic databases: CINAHL, PubMed, MEDLINE, Web of Science, Cochrane library, Embase, PsycINFO, and Scopus, together with a manual search of reference lists. Screening of titles, abstracts, and full texts of eligible studies plus quality appraisal (using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool) were independently conducted by two reviewers with disagreements resolved via discussion with a third reviewer. Nineteen articles were reviewed with three themes identified from the synthesis: 1) varying knowledge and attitudes amongst health-care professionals; 2) needs for professional development opportunities and support from workplace and 3) lack of recent validated tools to assess knowledge and attitudes. Health-care professionals’ knowledge and attitudes toward sexuality in older people living with/(out) dementia and those identified as LGBTI individuals are varying. Sexuality education and professional development training are needed to enhance their knowledge and attitudes and build skills in order to manage sexuality concerns. Current assessment tools are inadequate, highlighting the need for an appropriate assessment tool to be developed.     

Characteristics of primary teacher training programmes on inclusion: a literature focus

Background: The implementation of inclusive education creates challenges for classroom teachers who have to meet the learning needs of students with and without special educational needs (SEN). Research has revealed that teachers’ readiness and willingness to accommodate the learning needs of students with SEN was determined by their training. Though much research on teacher training and inclusive education has been conducted over two decades, less is known about the adequacy of such training in terms of components and effectiveness.

Purpose: The purpose of this review is to present a focused analysis of: (1) studies that examined, in detail, the components of teacher training programmes for pre-service or in-service teachers in regular primary schools in terms of content, length, etc., and (2) consideration of the effectiveness of these training programmes.

Design and methods: The literature review was restricted to empirical studies published in international peer-reviewed journals after 1994 (i.e. since the Salamanca statement was signed) by using the electronic browser ‘EBSCO host Complete’. After applying the keywords ‘teacher’ and ‘educator’, they were combined with the following terms: training, disabilities, inclusion, inclusive education, impairment, special educational needs, children with special needs and disorder. The search was deliberately restricted to papers where study participants were pre-service or in-service teachers in regular primary schools, and ultimately yielded a small core of 13 studies for detailed review. The first research question was analysed in terms of the training programme’s structure and content, covering aspects such as type of disability, topic, length, medium of course delivery and learning activities. For the second research question, the effectiveness of the quantitative studies was evaluated based on the Cohen’s d effect size, whereas the qualitative studies were considered as effective based on the calculation of percentage of non-overlapping data (PND).

Conclusions: Analysis indicated that the majority of training programmes focused on attitude, knowledge and skills. The training programmes were also centred on what might be considered short-term practice and supplemented with field experiences. Although the training programmes appeared to have positive effects on teachers’ attitudes, knowledge and skills, follow-up sessions and students’ outcomes measures may increase training effectiveness.     

Public Policies and Strategies of Actors

Abstract

A comparison of student learning outcomes between distance education and campus-based nursing students in a mental health course working toward registered nurse (RN) licensure in a baccalaureate (BS) degree program is presented. Learning outcomes were evaluated using results from a commercially developed content mastery test taken by students who completed a sophomore-level mental health course. Results utilizing independent t test analysis of archival data indicated no statistically significant differences between the distance education students and the campus-based students in either initial knowledge prior to the mental health course or in the educational effectiveness of the distance education and classroom-based delivery.     

Effects of a dementia dietary educational program on nutritional knowledge and healthy eating behavior of family caregivers

ABSTRACT

Family caregivers play a critical role in dietary care and the nutritional status of people with dementia. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of a family care-based dementia dietary educational program (DDEP) on family caregivers’ nutritional knowledge, healthy eating behavior and nutritional status of people with dementia. A total of 57 pairs of participants completed this longitudinal experimental study. Group A received routine care. Group B received the DDEP. Three outcomes were measured at pretest (T1), posttest (T2) and follow-up test (T3). Generalized estimating equations and regression were used to analyze the data. The scores of the caregivers’ nutritional knowledge significantly increased after receiving the DDEP in group B, and this increase was better than in group A. The posttest and follow-up test scores of healthy eating behavior were significantly higher than the pretest scores in both groups. The scores of nutritional status in group B increased from the pretest to the follow-up test, although there was no significant difference between the two groups. Some demographic factors played significant roles in the caregivers’ nutritional knowledge and healthy eating behavior. In sum, the DDEP improved the caregivers’ nutritional knowledge and healthy eating behavior for dementia. The demographic factors of family caregivers should be considered when providing nutritional information to enhance the nutritional status of people with dementia. The DHPDEP should be incorporated into the in-service education and training courses for nurses or dietitians who work with people with dementia.     

Special education and general education preservice teachers’ co-teaching experiences: a comparative synthesis of qualitative research

Co-teaching is commonly used to support students with disabilities in inclusive educational settings. However, there is often a gap between the potential effectiveness of co-teaching and actual classroom practice. This study examined preservice teachers’ co-teaching experiences to better understand this gap to identify potential practices for improving teacher training and service delivery. A review of 11 studies revealed that both special education and general education preservice teachers believed that co-teaching practices provided them opportunities to communicate and work collaboratively. Both groups agreed on the significant impact of personality in co-teaching as well as challenges in implementing co-teaching. Furthermore, special education preservice teachers noted that they lacked content knowledge, whereas general education preservice teachers thought they needed more training in the provision of accommodations and modifications. Study limitations, areas for future research, and implications for preservice teacher preparation are discussed.     

Competency Standards – a Help or a Hindrance? An Australian Perspective

Abstract

The mere existence of competency standards for an occupation is not, in itself, enough to tell us whether they will be a help or a hindrance for education and training providers. Instead, that will depend on what sort of competency standards they are and how they are being used by the education and training providers. This paper will describe, firstly, the types of competency standards that would be a hindrance for vocational education and training providers and those that would be a help. Secondly, assuming that competency standards of the helpful type are available, the paper will outline the ways of using them that would still be detrimental to vocational education and training, and contrast this with ways of using them so as to improve the provision of vocational education and training. As against the widely held belief that competency standards require a totally new approach to vocational education and training, this paper argues that this is true only of the type of competency standards that are a hindrance. The type of competency standards that are helpful to vocational education and training provide a powerful means of improving what has always been best practice in the design, delivery and assessment of vocational education and training courses.     

Redesigning collective educational capacity: From integrated public systems to capacity building enterprises

This paper examines teachers' work based upon a dichotomy between centralised publicly funded and administered education systems and more diversified and marketised education providers. It considers the way recent government reform agenda have redesigned education and training, creating a new educational landscape and new contexts for educational work. These changes in provision represent a re-ordering and re-organisation of collective educational capacity. Both centralised bureaucratic education systems and more marketised enterprise-based providers aim ‘educate the people’ but they operate in somewhat different ways and with somewhat different consequences. The paper uses the experience of teachers and managers in the marketised providers to demonstrate changes in pedagogical practices and innovations, and to begin to assess the costs and benefits of the two ways of orchestrating collective educational capacity.     

Evaluating the effect of a teacher training programme on the primary teachers’ attitudes,knowledge and teaching strategies regarding special educational needs

Research has consistently stressed that regular school teachers are important in determining the success of implementing inclusive education. It was also found that teachers’ attitudes, their knowledge about special educational needs (SEN) and teaching strategies are prerequisites for implementing inclusive education successfully. This study examines the effects of an in-service teacher training programme on regular primary school teachers’ attitudes and knowledge about SEN and about teaching strategies. A pre- and post-test control group design study was set up (N_{experimental group} = 33, N_{control group} = 34), comprising 11 public primary schools. The training programme consisted of 32 hours face-to-face training sessions, covering topics about attitudes and knowledge about SEN and about teaching strategies. In order to establish the effects of the training programme, attitudes and knowledge were measured at two moments: before and after the training programme was performed. The outcomes of ANCOVA revealed significant positive effects of the training programme on most dependent variables (attitudes, knowledge about SEN and about teaching strategies) with medium to large effect sizes. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.     

Sex education in Spain: the relevance of teachers’ training and attitudes / Educación sexual en España: importancia de la formación y las actitudes del profesorado

Abstract

This research has two main aims: a) the study of Spanish teachers’ training and attitudes towards sex education, as well as the delivery of this subject in classrooms, while also exploring the existence of differences according to personal and professional characteristics; and b) to examine the association between teachers’ training and attitudes, and the extent to which these variables predict the delivery of sex education. A total of 3,695 Infant, Primary, Secondary and High school teachers (66.1% women, 33.9% men) throughout the country completed a voluntary online questionnaire that inquired about their training and attitudes towards sex education, their delivery or non-delivery of this subject in classrooms, and other personal and professional characteristics. Analyses indicate that participants show positive attitudes towards sex education, but that 43.3% are not trained in this issue, and 48.6% do not teach it at school. Some significant differences by sex, educational stage and type of school have been found. In addition, trained teachers show more positive attitudes to sex education. Finally, having more positive attitudes and, to a lesser extent, having prior training, positively predicts the delivery of sex education. These results highlight the importance of reviewing and improving teachers’ training on sexuality and sex education, with particular emphasis on attitudinal contents.     

The WIT cohort: A case study of informal doctoral mentoring

Concerns about the quality and value of doctoral studies continue to be expressed by various constituencies. Cohort mentoring and professional relevance have been identified as significant opportunities for modernising doctoral education. This case study responds to the need for doctoral reform by exploring the process and outcomes of mentoring on a self-formed educational leadership cohort, a grassroots organisation called the WIT (writers in training) cohort. Analysis of this innovation from the members' perspectives suggests that the cohort mentoring experience serves to enhance individual success and improve a particular graduate context. Results indicate that benefits were gained in three areas of professional growth: developing a sense of identity and belonging, support for learning and attaining dreams and experiencing a faculty-student support model.     

Development of a Curriculum for Long-Term Care Nurses to Improve Recognition of Depression in Dementia

There is increasing recognition of the severe consequences of depression in long-term care residents with dementia. Most health care providers are unprepared to recognize and to manage the complexity of depression in dementia. Targeted educational initiatives in nursing homes are needed to address this growing problem. This paper describes the development of competencies, learning objectives, and learning outcomes for a curriculum on depression in dementia for nurses working in nursing home settings. This work provides the foundation for a curriculum to improve learning for nurses and, ultimately, to advance health care outcomes for residents with cooccurring depression and dementia.     

Education for pupils with profound disabilities: Issues of policy,curriculum, teaching methods,and evaluation

ABSTRACT

This paper discusses some issues in the education of pupils who have profound disabilities. Following an examination of policy and curriculum issues, we review recent research on teaching methods. In particular, we look critically at the concepts and methods of behavioural psychology and its influence in this field of education. We then examine the issue of evaluation of educational outcomes using illustrations from current research at a special school for adolescents with profound disabilities. Finally, we suggest some directions for future research which place the education of persons who have profound disabilities clearly within the mainstream of educational thinking and research endeavour.     

Managing Messes and Coping with Uncertainty: reviewing training for teachers in post‐compulsory education and training

Abstract

Post‐compulsory teacher training in England has been under review, and standards developed by the Further Education Staff Development Forum were to be launched in January 1999 as a precursor to a mandatory qualification for teachers in further education in England and Wales. Until now, many further education colleges have worked in partnership with higher education institutions to run Certificate in Education programmes, which aim to develop both practical teaching skills and critical knowledge and understanding of teaching and learning in a post‐compulsory context. A review of one such programme is outlined here. In a context where further education teachers must help to widen participation and promote lifelong learning, it is argued that any new arrangements for initial teacher training and continuing professional development need to include ‘competence’ in the practical skills involved in teaching and learning, but must also go beyond this, and aim to develop critical knowledge and understanding of the changing context in which staff work. It is argued that turning the new Further Education National Training Organisation standards for further education teachers in England and Wales into a National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) is inadequate to this task. A strengthened partnership between further and higher education providers to develop more robust and coherent approaches to professional capability is advocated.     

This Issue

Abstract

The tools and techniques associated with distance education can be used to meet a number of social, political, or business goals and their accompanying educational or training objectives. Strategic planning is a means for developing and verifying the fit between distance education and its sponsoring goals. This paper reviews a number of strategic plans and the goals and objectives normally assigned to distance education and distinguishes the terms used in strategic thinking about distance education. This essay examines assumptions about adopting distance delivery of education and training by looking at distance education, not as an objective, but as a strategy that can potentially serve many educational objectives.     

Differences Among Preferred Methods for Furthering Aging Education in Ohio

Workers serving Ohio's aging population will require increased levels of gerontological education. Using data from 55 Ohio counties, this project investigated the educational needs and reasons for seeking education from professionals in aging. Respondents reported interest in attaining aging related education. Preferred delivery methods included web based and interactive satellite instruction. Continuing education credit was preferred over college credit even though a high percentage indicated a desire for an additional degree (69.8%). Despite over 30 years of Ohio's universities providing aging related education, 58.6% of respondents have no formal aging related training, and 11.7% have only a single course in aging. Gerontological topics that most interested participants in an area for further understanding were Alzheimer's/dementia, medication, and mental health issues.     

Integrating teacher education effectiveness research into educational effectiveness models

The purpose of this article is to review and to connect research about teacher education effectiveness and school effectiveness to arrive at an integrative conceptualization that has the potential of improving empirical research in both fields. Teacher education effectiveness addresses effects of teacher education on outcomes such as teacher knowledge, this knowledge becomes the predictor in teacher effectiveness research with instructional quality and student achievement as outcomes. The two research orientations become united in path-analytic studies. A fuller incorporation leads to an extended educational effectiveness model that enriches a systemic interpretation of key levers of educational effectiveness and opens up black boxes at the system and the classroom level. In such a comprehensive model, teacher policies can be regarded an alternative for educational improvement strategies like school curriculum policies, accountability and evaluation or governance and management. At the same time insights from educational effectiveness research at large suggest inclusion of additional variables in teacher education and teacher effectiveness research, particularly on the institutional level.     

Linking Industry and Teacher Education: How Do Student Teachers Benefit?

Abstract

As part of the foundation of its developmental work, the project Industrial and Commercial Perspectives in Initial Teacher Education (ICP) conducted a survey of existing industry‐education work within initial teacher education. All institutions with BEd, PGCE and concurrent courses were surveyed, using questionnaires directed towards educational studies and curriculum (methods) tutors. Respondents identified substantial benefits to students from involvement in activity of this kind. The benefits were felt to include contributions towards greater maturity of out look and an enhanced ability to relate to other adults, including parents of pupils. It was also considered that students gained a wider knowledge of the outside world and broader perspectives on the aims and processes of education. A further view was that students were able to give their teaching greater reality and impact through the use of materials and examples and through the involvement of people from industry and commerce.     

Research trends of flipped classroom studies for medical courses: a review of journal publications from 2008 to 2017 based on the technology-enhanced learning model

ABSTRACT

Medical education is a domain with fast-changing knowledge and attention to knowledge application and higher order thinking; therefore, how to implement effective teaching is a crucial issue. Based on the technology-based learning model, this study provides a multi-dimensional analysis of published papers on the flipped classroom in medical education from the SCOPUS database, including the form of the learning materials, learning system or player, learning strategies, educational technology, application domains, research issues, participants, and research methods. Based on the results, the application of flipped classrooms in medical education has grown rapidly over the past decade, with the number growing dramatically from 7 papers in 2014, to 16 papers in 2015, and 22 papers in 2016. It was found that a great number of studies adopted instructional videos uploaded on online learning systems or used existing online videos to conduct before-class teaching in the before-class stage of the flipped classroom; moreover, most studies involved no online discussion in the before-class stage. As for learning strategies in the in-class stage, the most frequently adopted strategies were issue discussion, practicing or doing exercises, and problem-based learning. This implies that most studies mainly emphasized basic knowledge understanding and skills training, while little attention was paid to developing learners’ higher order thinking skills. In addition, the majority of studies explored students’ learning interest/satisfaction, learning experience, and performance on the cognitive aspect, while little research was found to investigate their preparation degree or cognitive loading. Based on the review results, this study provides the research trends and potential research issues of flipped medical education to serve as a reference for researchers, instructors, and decision makers.     

Reflections on Neuroscience in Teacher Education

The majority of teacher preparation programs do not address neuroscience in their curricula. This is curious, as learning occurs in the brain in context and teachers fundamentally foster and facilitate learning. On the one hand, merging neuroscience knowledge into teacher training programs is fraught with challenges, such as reconciling how scientific evidence is viewed and used in education, overcoming neuromyths, acknowledging the lack of direct connection between laboratory findings and classroom practices, and coordinating across different levels of analysis in neuroscience and educational practice. On the other hand, there are marked benefits to such a merger, such as deepening pedagogical content knowledge from multiple perspectives; understanding neuroplasticity and its educational implications; recognizing the power of the environment to affect neurobiology, learning, and development; and contributing to engaged, reflective practice and informed inquiry in teaching. Particularly in terms of learning equity for students and the development of a learning education culture in teacher education programs, the benefits of including neuroscience knowledge in teacher training would seem to outweigh the challenges.