Dementia Care Education for Nursing Students

A theoretical foundation and clinical experience are necessary to prepare nursing students for the care requirements of people with dementia.

A quasi-experimental design was used to examine the impact of Dementia Care Bootcamp (DCB) and clinical experience on students' dementia knowledge and attitudes, self-confidence for dementia care, and empathy, compared with students who received only the DCB. All students received a 10-hour DCB; half also received a clinical experience and completed a journal assignment.

The DCB had a positive and significant effect on students' dementia attitudes, knowledge, and dementia care confidence and no effect on empathy. There was no significant difference between students who participated in the clinical experience and those who did not on any of the outcome measures.

Although the DCB improved student outcomes, one clinical day was insufficient to further improve students' knowledge, attitudes, self-confidence, or empathy. Several reasons for the findings are discussed. [J Nurs Educ. 2019;58(3):136-143.].