International Standards for Dementia Workforce Education and Training: A Scoping Review
The gerontologist
2023
: 37071967
140
149
research.portal.fulldisplay.sdgs.intro
research.portal.fulldisplay.sdgs.source
Background and Objectives
The increasing number of people with dementia requires transparency and quality dementia education, training, and care. This scoping review aimed to determine the key elements of national or state-wide standards on dementia education and training that could underpin the development of international standards for dementia workforce training and education.
Research Design and Methods
The English-language peer-reviewed and gray literature were searched (2010–20). Key search domains were training, workforce, standards/frameworks, and dementia.
Results
Thirteen standards were identified from the United Kingdom (n = 5), the United States (n = 4), Australia (n = 3), and Ireland (n = 1). Most standards focused on training health care professionals with some including people in customer-centric settings, people living with dementia, and informal carers or the general community. Seventeen training topics were identified in 10 or more of the 13 standards. Cultural safety, rural issues, health care professional self-care, digital literacy, and health promotion topics were less commonly reported. The barriers to standards implementation were lack of organizational support, lack of access to relevant training, low staff literacy, lack of funding, high staff turnover, ineffective past program cycles, and inconsistent service delivery. Enablers included a strong implementation plan, funding, strength of partnerships, and building on previous work.
Discussion and Implications
The U.K. Dementia Skills and Core Training Standard, the Irish Department of Health Dementia Together, and the National Health Services Scotland Standard are the recommended strongest standards for underpinning the development of international standards. It is essential that training standards are tailored to the needs of the consumer, worker, and regions.
- International Standards for Dementia Workforce Education and Training: A Scoping Review
- Sabrina Winona Pit (Corresponding Author) - The University of SydneyLouise Horstmanshof (Author) - Southern Cross UniversityAnne Moehead (Author) - Dementia Inclusive Ballina, Ballina, New South Wales, AustraliaOliver Hayes (Author) - The University of MelbourneValerie Schache (Contributor) - Dementia Alliance International, Ballina, New South Wales, AustraliaLynne Parkinson (Author) - University of Newcastle Australia
- The gerontologist
- Oxford University Press
- 991013107813602368
- © The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
- Faculty of Health
- English
- Journal article