Evaluating Certified Nursing Assistants’ Self Efficacy in Caring for Patients with Dementia

In 2018, 50 million people were living with dementia worldwide, and this number is expected to increase to 82 million by 2030 (Novotny et al., 2018).
The aim of this quality improvement project was to assess Certified Nursing Assistants’ (CNAs) dementia knowledge, self-efficacy in establishing caring relationships, and attitudes toward people living with dementia. In addition to sociodemographic data, measures used to guide development of the education intervention included questions from three measures; the Dementia Knowledge Assessment Scale (DKAS), Dementia Attitudes Scale (DAS), and Caring Efficacy Scale (CES).
The results of the project demonstrated a need for further education of CNAs regarding health promotion strategies to reduce the risk of developing dementia and strategies for those already experiencing dementia. There was also an identified need for education regarding best techniques for communicating with people experiencing dementia, and ways in which those experiencing dementia communicate with those in their environment, including manifested behaviors. These survey results are intended to be used to build a web-based asynchronized and on-demand course to meet these educational gaps. and further improve the understanding and care of those experiencing dementia within the workplace of the CNA.