Alzheimer’s Tennessee® is a nonprofit organization in Tennessee since the 1980s with the goal of outreach and caregiver support for ADRD, to promote brain health through education and to champion global research, prevention, and treatment efforts. Alzheimer’s Tennessee® sponsors over 40 caregiver support groups and has an active presence in the Middle Tennessee region.
We will partner with Alzheimer’s Tennessee® in developing and providing evidence-based curricula on ADRD for direct care providers and family caregivers. Providing practical strategies and solutions to this audience is critical to improving quality of care. Doctoral level nursing school faculty will provide expert information about ADRD course trajectory, information on available community resources, communication and navigational strategies, and clinical (hands-on) skills and shared decision- making strategies to lead caregiver support groups and train new leaders. We anticipate forming 5 new caregiver support groups for Alzheimer’s Tennessee® in the 1st year and produce a web-based training module yearly. Participant feedback about the caregiver curriculum will be solicited (caregiver questions, staff feedback) and will then be used to continuously modify the curriculum to improve relevance and helpfulness to group leaders. Caregiver feedback to nurse faculty members and observed knowledge and skills will determine the number of sessions required to obtain proficiency for new group leaders as the curriculum is developed.