INTERNET LEARNING FOR FAMILIES OF NURSING HOME RESIDENTS

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DESCRIPTION: For the families of 1.6 million Americans residing in nursing homes, remaining constructively involved in the care of the resident is a challenge and major stressor. Conflicts between the facilities and families are common and interfere with the ideal goal of "partners in care," in which professionals and families work together towards optimizing resident outcomes. In order to achieve this goal, a core curriculum of education for both families and nursing home staff on clinical issues and communication skills is essential. This SBIR proposal is to develop an Internet-based interactive video system to deliver education to the families of long-term care residents. The Phase I prototype will focus on providing dementia education for families; and assess knowledge attained and user satisfaction. For Phase II we will develop and test a comprehensive curriculum for families on common clinical conditions, legal/regulatory issues, participation in care, and communication skills. The Phase II study will compare the impact of family and staff education, together; staff education, alone; family education, alone; and standard educational conditions in terms of objective measures of resident outcomes, staff turnover, and staff and family satisfaction. For staff education, we will use the curriculum of computer-based interactive video we have already developed with previous NIA funds. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATION: Billions of dollars in pharmaceutical, skin care, and other products are marketed to nursing home annually. These companies would be interested in sponsoring this Web-site to promote their products to the consumers (family members) of long-term care. Nursing home chains may also be interested in providing eduction to residents' families to improve "customer satisfaction".