Developing Empathic Experienced Providers: An Innovative Multicomponent Dementia Curriculum

Area of Science:

• Gerontology
• Medical Education
• Dementia Care

Background:

• Family nurse practitioner students require specialized training to effectively care for older adults.
• Existing dementia care curricula may have gaps in critical knowledge areas.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the impact of a multicomponent curriculum on dementia knowledge and attitudes among family nurse practitioner students.
• To identify specific knowledge gaps within the dementia curriculum.

Main Methods:

• Eighteen students participated in the "Developing Empathic Experienced Providers" dementia curriculum improvement project.
• Pre- and post-content evaluations were used to measure changes in dementia knowledge.
• The Willingness to Work With Elderly People Scale assessed changes in attitude and intention.

Main Results:

• The curriculum significantly improved dementia knowledge (t(17) = 8.883, p ≤ .001, d = 2.221).
• Knowledge gaps were identified in dementia pharmacology and treatment.
• Minor improvements were observed in students' attitudes and intentions toward working with geriatric patients.

Conclusions:

• The multicomponent curriculum effectively enhanced dementia knowledge for nurse practitioner students.
• Curriculum refinement is needed to address specific gaps in pharmacology and treatment.
• Further development may be required to significantly alter attitudes towards geriatric care.