Adapting communication tools to increase direct care workers' knowledge and performance: A community partnership approach for sustainability

The Aging and Communications Training (ACT) project has been designed in 2007 by the SPRY Foundation and its partner organizations to provide trainers and researchers in aging-related service agencies with a simple curriculum, based on the current literature on aging, communicating with older adults, and stress management. It is tailored to the assessed needs of Direct Care Workers (DCWs), their supervisors and the older adults they serve. Direct Care Workers are the front line individuals (paid or volunteer) who provide social, health, and mental support services on a day-to-day basis to community-dwelling older adults. It is estimated that there are over 2 million people in the U.S. alone, serving in the role of a Direct Care Worker. This role is common in all countries, and may often assumed by family members. The presentation will review the community-based approach used in developing the curriculum and training materials, and the methods involved in getting personal input from the DCWs, as well as their older adult clients in the community. It will discus the experiences involved in the pre-test and then initial field tests in Baltimore, MD. There will be an analysis of the Master Training component of the program where senior trainers from 13 States from around the US met in Los Angeles, CA for a 1-day session. , Finally, an evaluation of the training experiences at the community level will be discussed. In addition, there will be a discussion on the management issues and advantages of establishing a virtual management system to oversee the implementation of this type of initiative. There are discussions underway to discuss possible expansion of the ACT training program into an entire public health system in a major urban area in the US, as a national model program.