A scoping review of staff training and education needs

The aim of this report is to review international literature to identify best practice, gaps and challenges in existing dementia training, education and continuing professional development (CPD) and make recommendations to cross border partners to complement the work that PP7 and PP9 are undertaking in Work Package 1 and 2.

The scoping review identified and synthesised literature to address the question ‘what knowledge and skills do practitioners involved in caring for people living with dementia (PLWD) need to support person centred practice’? Thirty two papers were included in the review, 19 of which were training or education interventions aimed at developing healthcare staff’s skills and knowledge for improved dementia care practices. The focus was mainly on person centred dementia care, managing challenging behaviour and improving communication with people living with dementia.

The findings highlight three main themes relating to the learning and development needs of staff that care for people living with dementia, which include person centred care, communication and managing dementia care. Evidence based training and education programmes for developing a skilled workforce in dementia care are still in development. The literatures cites a lack of rigour in the assessment of the effectiveness of existing programmes. However, the review provides some insight into the broad themes emerging in the literature and the methodological challenges associated with drawing any meaningful conclusions about best practice models currently for education and training. As a starting point it offers the CASCADE team potential to provide a bold