The Care for America's Aging Study

Summary

Care for America's Aging is a randomized pilot study investigating whether a home health aide training intervention consisting of enhanced dementia-specific curriculum content will improve: 1) behavioral symptoms of older adult persons living with dementia or cognitive impairment (PLWD/CI) and 2) global health-related quality of life among PLWD/CI and their care partners.

Interventions

• Enhanced home health aide training in dementia and dementia-related behaviors · BEHAVIORAL

  8 hours (2 instructional days) of enhanced curriculum dementia-specific instruction for home health aides

Published eligibility criteria

Verbatim from the registry. Only the site can decide how these apply to a specific patient.

Inclusion Criteria for Patients:

* Age 60 years and above
* Patients in Mass General Brigham healthcare system
* Mild cognitive impairment or dementia diagnosis of no greater than mild-moderate severity
* Discharge plan includes referral to home care services
* As all surveys have been validated in English, we will limit participation to potential participants able to read English.

Exclusion Criteria for Patients:

* Discharge to Medicare short-term rehab only
* Lack of care partner
* Enrolled in palliative care (projected survival \< 6 months)
* Clinical severity of dementia that is moderate or greater
* Any active clinical issues barring safe participation
* Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA)-blind score below cutoff
* University of California, San Diego Brief Assessment of Capacity to Consent (UBACC) score below cutoff

Sites (1)

• Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts