| A caregiver is defined as someone who offers care to another individual who is not capable of carrying out activities essential for daily living. The role of caregivers is often overlooked, but their contributions are foundational to the nation's long-term healthcare organizations. Numerous reasons exist for the projected increase in caregiver burden, including: the nation's aging population, increased dementia prevalence, increased caregiver demand, and increased long-term care turnover rates. A current and projected shortage of caregivers will profoundly impact the long-term care workforce.;Job turnover and burden rates are often reported highest among dementia caregivers related to increased physical, mental, and emotional demands. Research emphasizes the importance of enhancing dementia caregiver education levels to decrease turnover, reduce burden, and enhance outcomes. Based on practicality, scope of practice, a detailed literature review, and a community needs assessment, a dementia caregiver training program was chosen as a priority dementia caregiver need.;The practice improvement project design focused on increasing dementia caregiver knowledge and decreasing levels of burden through implementation of a dementia caregiver training program at a local long-term care agency. Twenty-six agency dementia caregivers attended a training session followed by pre-post and two-month post-education questionnaires and scales.;During the training program, education was provided to caregivers through an interactive PowerPoint presentation. The training session included an introduction followed by participant completion of a pre-education knowledge questionnaire and a pre-education burden scale. Training content included burden, self-care tips, communication, and managing dementia associated behaviors. Evaluation included group discussion and completion of the post-education knowledge questionnaire and the post-education burden scale. Two-months following program completion, a two-month post-education knowledge questionnaire and a two-month post-education burden scale were completed by participants. Data analysis indicated implementation of the dementia caregiver training program resulted in increased knowledge, increased comfort, and decreased caregiver burden. |
