Help Needed For Research About Dementia Training For The Social Care Workforce

Leeds Beckett University’s Centre for Dementia Research are seeking help from staff within the social care workforce who provide care for people living with dementia to engage with their latest research about dementia training for the social care workforce.

We are asking social care staff to help us by completing a survey about their experience.

The project has been commissioned by the Alzheimer’s Society to explore the current landscape of dementia education and training among the adult social care workforce in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It is asking care home and home care staff to complete a survey about their experience of dementia specific training.

The findings will be used to inform Alzheimer’s Society’s future policy and campaigning work in their mission to ensure the adult social care workforce is fully equipped to provide high-quality, person-centred care for people living with dementia.

Participation is in the form of an anonymous online survey  and should take around 20 minutes to complete. The survey will be open until Thursday 18 September.

The research is being conducted by Centre for Dementia Research academics Professor Sarah Smith and Professor Claire Surr, in partnership with IFF Research.

Professor Smith said:
“This is an important piece of research that will help us, for the first time, to understand the reach of dementia specific training for social care staff across the three nations. Knowing whether staff have received training to enable them to deliver appropriate person-centred care for people with dementia is critical in making the case for improvements in the future.

“The social care workforce is an invaluable resource for supporting people living with dementia – knowing what support they have, and need, to deliver good person centred care, as well as the barriers and support they need to access training, is the only way to make sure that this workforce is equipped to deliver the standard of care that is needed.

We need as many staff as possible to complete this survey so that we can understand the landscape of dementia training and make the case for best supporting this workforce in the future”