Effect of an Educational Program on Knowledge and Practices of Alzheimer Patient’s Caregivers.

Background: Alzheimer disease is a condition that causes abnormal changes in the brain, disturbing memory, and other mental abilities. Currently, over 50 million people worldwide live with Alzheimer disease, which is the most common form of dementia and the fifth leading cause of death. Objective: The purpose of the current study is to assess the effect of an educational program on knowledge and practices of Alzheimer patient’s caregivers. Design: A quasi-experimental one-group pretest-posttest with three months follow-up design was used. Setting: the study was conducted in three elderly nursing homes in Amman, Jordan. Sample: a purposive sample of 50 caregivers from the selected elderly nursing homes were included. Results: Alzheimer patient’s care givers showed a significant gain in knowledge and improved practice after program implementation with highly statistically significant differences between pre, post, and three months at p-value <0.01. Conclusions: Findings demonstrated that Alzheimer caregivers’ education program can effectively provide knowledge and improve practice among caregivers. Recommendation: Conduct future studies to determine the best method of education and training for Alzheimer patient’s caregivers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]