Supporting aged care workers to improve dementia practice: A pilot study comparison of online communities of practice and workshop-based training

This study investigated the extent to which online communities of practice (CoP) supported aged care staff to make improvements in dementia care compared to usual workshop-based training. Three hundred and eight four aged care workers participated in one of three conditions: CoP national (membership of the group was open to staff members from any aged care organization); CoP single organization (membership of the group was restricted to a single organization); workshop only. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic all activities were online. Over 8 months, CoP members attended monthly meetings and could interact with each other and access resources via an online CoP platform. Workshop training for all participants comprised two virtual classrooms about dementia practice. Participants completed measures of dementia knowledge, attitudes, competencies, and practice at pre-training (baseline, T1), at 3 months (mid-training, T2) and 8 months post-baseline (post-training, T3). Low attendance rates were observed for CoP and workshops, although participants rated training highly. Dementia knowledge improved from pre- to post-training in all conditions, with no other outcome measure showing significant improvement or differences between conditions. However, CoP participants who regularly attended meetings were more likely to report changes in dementia practice or policy than participants who received workshop training only. The findings indicate that CoP is an acceptable training method for improving dementia care competencies and practices of Australian aged care workers, but success is associated with engagement in CoP activities. Future delivery needs to address barriers to participation for staff to realize benefits of communities of practice.