Enhancing attitudes, knowledge and skills of paraprofessional service providers in elder care settings

The preparation of paraprofessional providers of services to older adults is often a "back-burner" issue, even though most direct care of older clients and patients is provided by paraprofessionals. This community-academic project delivered gerontological training to 74 paraprofessional service providers and evaluated the impact of training on gerontological attitudes, knowledge, and skills, and client satisfaction. Key features are that paraprofessional trainees selected training topics, gerontological social workers provided the training, pre- and post-tests assessed the impact of training, and interactive training modeled processes to apply with older adults. Findings suggest that age-related "attitudes" and "skills" can progressively develop, "knowledge" is likely to change sooner, and "client satisfaction" can be enhanced. Future training initiatives can address the value of "reinforcement training," enhancing the capabilities of gerontology and geriatric educators to meet needs of paraprofessionals who influence the quality of later lives.