UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Susan J. Loeb, Ross and Carol Nese College of Nursing and College of Medicine professor, was recently awarded a National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Aging (NIH/NIA) grant for her research study titled "Computer-based Learning to Enhance ADRD Care in Prison: Just Care for Dementia."
Loeb, who is principal investigator is teaming up with six individuals, including three co-investigators: Barbara Walkosz, senior scientist and communications expert at Klein Buendel Inc., a women-owned educational technology small business; and two Ross & Carol Nese College of Nursing faculty, Erin Kitt-Lewis and Donna Fick; as well as three research assistants: Sherif A. Olanrewaju, nursing doctoral student; Katherine Aiken, health policy and administration integrated undergraduate/graduate student; and Allison Montalvo, from Klein Buendel Inc.
Through the help of her team of investigators and students, Loeb is researching and developing an online training on Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD) care for prison staff and peer caregivers, with the long-term goal of enhancing the care provided for those who are living with dementia in carceral settings.
Loeb’s research comes at a much-needed time as U.S. prison systems face sharply increased demands in caring for older people living in prisons, especially considering ADRDs are age-related diseases. Additionally, prison health, social and security staff have expressed their need for greater skills and knowledge that are essential for identifying cognitive impairment and supporting people who are incarcerated and living with ADRD, according to Loeb.
By developing and testing this new ADRD computer-based educational program, Loeb hopes to fill these gaps in ADRD care and knowledge through highly interactive, evidence-based educational modules. Target users for this training are two-fold, multi-disciplinary corrections staff and people who are incarcerated who volunteer as peer caregivers.
The "Just Care for Dementia" study will be launched in a men’s and women’s state prison, following consultation with a blue-ribbon advisory board consisting of members from across the United States and Canada with long-standing correctional administrative, security and/or treatment experience. Board members represent the fields of pharmacy, social work, nursing, clinical psychology, health care administration, and training. In addition, a returning citizen — a person who has been previously incarcerated and now aids in the successful transition of others from prison to the community and advocates for policy change — is a member of the board.
Following the advisory board consultation, Loeb and her team will conduct focus groups with prison staff and peer caregivers to determine priority content areas to focus on for their initial e-learning module prototypes. Possible topics include benefits to carceral settings of enhancing care for people with ADRD; promoting safety, addressing vulnerability, and determining housing assignments; and effective strategies for communicating with people with ADRD. Collaboration with Klein Buendel’s creative team will then take hold to program the evidence-based and contextually relevant module content into media-rich and highly interactive, e-learning module prototypes.
In the second and final aim of this study, Loeb and team will conduct in-person usability testing of the modules. Participants who are the target end-users of the training (i.e., multi-disciplinary prison staff and peer caregivers) will work their way through the prototype modules, while researchers observe ease of use, participant reactions, and pose questions to elicit participants’ impressions. Questions, for example, range from the participants’ opinions on the look and feel of the training, ability to progress and navigate through the activities and content, their perceived usefulness of the training, and/or the training’s fit with the restrictive environment of corrections.
The new research comes after previous concluded NIH-funded studies in Loeb’s longstanding program of research to improve the health and health care in prisons. Study findings have revealed that not only can e-learning modules be a feasible approach and successful learning opportunity for corrections staff, but also that peer caregivers can make positive contributions to the prison community by assisting in the care of others. Serving as a peer caregiver can provide a sense of self-worth, an opportunity for redemption, and a sense of comfort for peer caregivers in knowing that such care can be provided for them too, if they ever are in need, said Loeb.
Loeb emphasized that this program in no way intended to replace the need for professional care, as anything involving personal care or skilled care requires staff.
“Peer caregivers are meant to be an enhancement to staff, to be advocators for an incarcerated person, a protector of belongings or from abuse from other incarcerated persons," said Loeb. "They can provide other supports like retrieving commissary items, reading books, writing letters, even repositioning patients in bed and helping with transfers and ambulation. Persons with dementia need to be engaged with others and I think that the joint involvement of multidisciplinary staff and peer caregivers is very helpful and a good way to promote healthier prison environments and positive role models for other people living in prison settings.”