Partners in Care: A program for family caregivers and nursing home staff

Abstract

The Partners in Care program was an eight-week education and support group designed to create an environment where family caregivers and nursing home staff could share their knowledge about caregiving and reduce ambiguity about caregiving roles in the nursing home. Twenty-seven caregivers (17 attended group meetings and 10 served as the contrast group) participated in an evaluation of the program. Pretest and post-test scores on the Knowledge of Nursing Home Caregiving scale, staff observations, anecdotal information and continuing partnerships suggest that both staff and family caregivers benefitted from the program. This article describes the development, implementation and evaluation of the Partners in Care program.

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