Advancing Workforce Analysis and Research for Dementia (AWARD) Network

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ABSTRACT / PROJECT SUMMARY More than 6 million people live with neurodegenerative diseases in the United States, receiving care and support from both unpaid care partners and paid workers. The paid workforce is large and diverse, employing millions of people, most of whom are in occupations that do not require a college degree. The largest occupation by far is the “direct care” workforce, which consists of 2.4 million personal care aides, 1.1 million nursing assistants, and 800,000 home health aides. These workers are affected by a range of policies and programs that vary across states, payers, and healthcare organizations, including differing training requirements, state- level regulations regarding what services direct care workers are allowed to provide, and reimbursement strategies that may affect demand for and wages of direct care workers. We have little evidence to guide evaluation and refinement of policies even as the importance of ensuring an adequately-sized and well-prepared direct care workforce is growing. There also is an urgent need to identify effective approaches to support direct care workers in their interface with an increasingly diverse population of people living with dementia and with other healthcare professionals. To advance research on the direct care workforce that serves people living with dementia, we will establish the AWARD (Advancing Workforce Analysis and Research for Dementia) Network. Workforce researchers come from a range of academic disciplines (e.g. public health, economics, sociology, medicine, nursing) and are spread throughout the nation with few centered at any one institution. They often are in separate departments or research units from scholars with expertise in dementia care, limiting opportunities for interdisciplinary research collaborations and mentoring of early-stage researchers in the theories and practicalities of conducting studies of the healthcare workforce. The AWARD Network will offer programs and activities to create a strong community of researchers engaged in research on the direct care workforce and its role in care for people living with dementia. Activities of the AWARD Network will include: (1) hosting an annual meeting, (2) holding monthly virtual trainings, webinars, and workshops, (3) organizing two Summer Training Institutes, (4) supporting competitive research internships, (5) directly funding pilot research, and (6) developing resources and data to harmonize and accelerate research. The AWARD Network will develop infrastructure and relationships to generate research that supports evidence-based policy and practice to advance the capacity of the direct care workforce in serving PLWD. This work will ultimately inform policy leaders and healthcare organizations striving to ensure appropriate care and reduce health disparities for this population.