Abstract

Objectives

This study investigated the short-term impact and the retention of a dementia care intervention for healthcare staff working in an Italian acute hospital setting. Additionally, we identified the predictors of improvement across the intervention.

Method

Sixty-two healthcare staff from an Italian public hospital participated in a dementia care intervention consisting of 5 modules delivered in a 5-hour training program focusing on dementia management, knowledge, and care. A pre-test/post-test and six-months follow-up design was used to evaluate participants’ changes in knowledge, attitudes, and confidence in dementia.

Results

The intervention significantly improved healthcare staff’s dementia knowledge and confidence immediately after the end of the intervention. No significant changes were observed from post-test to follow-up, indicating retention of these outcomes over six months. Regarding attitude to dementia, we found an immediate improvement only in the Recognition of Personhood scale. Looking at the predictors of improvement, healthcare staff with lower levels of knowledge, attitudes, and confidence in dementia at pre-test were those who improved more following the intervention.

Conclusion

These findings provide further evidence that dementia care interventions are suitable initiatives to promote knowledge and skills required to manage the needs of people with dementia in an acute hospital setting.

中文翻译：

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意大利痴呆症友好医院试验 (IDENTITÀ)：对医院工作人员进行痴呆症护理干预的功效

摘要

目标

本研究调查了痴呆症护理干预对在意大利急症医院环境中工作的医护人员的短期影响和保留。此外，我们还确定了干预措施改善的预测因素。

方法

来自意大利一家公立医院的 62 名医护人员参加了痴呆症护理干预，该干预包括 5 个模块，在 5 小时的培训计划中提供，重点是痴呆症管理、知识和护理。使用前测试/后测试和六个月的后续设计来评估参与者在痴呆症的知识、态度和信心方面的变化。

结果

该干预措施在干预结束后立即显着提高了医护人员的痴呆症知识和信心。从测试后到后续行动没有观察到显着变化，表明这些结果在六个月内保持不变。关于对痴呆症的态度，我们仅在人格认知量表中发现了立竿见影的改善。从改善的预测因素来看，在预测试时对痴呆症的知识、态度和信心水平较低的医护人员是那些在干预后改善更多的人。

结论

这些发现提供了进一步的证据，表明痴呆症护理干预措施是促进知识和技能的合适举措，可在急性医院环境中管理痴呆症患者的需求。