MULTIMEDIA ALZHEIMER'S EDUCATION IN ASSISTED LIVING

Assisted Living Facilities (ALF) are the fastest growing means of providing assistance to the elderly with Alzheimer?s I Dementia (AD), but generally care is provided by untrained, nonprofessional
staff. Therefore, the overall, long term goal of our program is to improve the
quality of AD care for persons residing in assisted living facilities. In Phase
I, the objective of the project was to develop a comprehensive, interactive,
multimedia assisted living employee training program on CD-ROM which focused on
one aspect of AD, "Enhancing Communication." In Phase II, the series of AD
modules will be completed. The specific aims for expansion of the CD-ROM based
training program will include: 1) develop the comprehensive training program by
completing five additional AD related modules; 2) develop accompanying written
materials; 3) evaluate the effectiveness of the CD-ROMs based on the knowledge
testing provided to assisted living caregivers; 4) develop the marketing and
commercialization plan. By the end of Phase II, we will have completed the
development, production, and commercialization training program encompassing AD
care provided by assisted living caregivers.