Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Jan-Mar;42(1):114-125.
doi: 10.1080/02701960.2020.1764356. Epub 2020 May 18.

Perspectives of Veterans Affairs mental health providers on working with older adults with dementia and their caregivers

Mary F Wyman  1   2 , Corrine I Voils  1   2 , Ranak Trivedi  3   4 , Lisa Boyle  1   2 , Daniel Goldman  1 , Emre Umucu  5 , Megan Zuelsdorff  2   6 , Adrienne L Johnson  1   7 , Carey E Gleason  1   2
Affiliations

Perspectives of Veterans Affairs mental health providers on working with older adults with dementia and their caregivers

Mary F Wyman et al. Gerontol Geriatr Educ. 2021 Jan-Mar.

Abstract

Continuing education directed at building providers' skills and knowledge in geriatrics represents a practical approach to addressing the geriatric mental health (MH) care workforce shortage. To inform the development of professional training curricula, we surveyed MH providers (N = 65) at a Veterans Affairs medical center on working with older persons with dementia (PwD) and informal caregivers. Providers rated service provision to PwD and caregivers as highly important but endorsed modest self-efficacy. Half of respondents were minimally confident in managing risk of harm to self or others in a PwD. Respondents believed PwD can benefit from MH treatments, yet identified several barriers to providing care, including inadequate time and staffing resources. Interest in geriatric training topics was high. Findings demonstrate that MH providers at this site value care provision to PwD and caregivers, and desire additional training to serve this population. System-level barriers to MH care for PwD should also be identified and addressed.

Keywords: Mental health; caregivers; continuing education; dementia; geriatric education.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Interest Statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest related to the present work.

References

    1. Bodner E, Palgi Y, & Wyman MF (2018). Ageism in Mental Health Assessment and Treatment of Older Adults. In Ayalon L & Tesch-Römer C (Eds.), Contemporary Perspectives on Ageism (pp. 241–262). Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing.
    1. Borson S, & Chodosh J (2014). Developing dementia-capable health care systems: a 12-step program. Clin Geriatr Med, 30(3), 395–420. doi:10.1016/j.cger.2014.05.001 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Cheston R, & Ivanecka A (2017). Individual and group psychotherapy with people diagnosed with dementia: A systematic review of the literature. Int J Geriatr Psychiatry, 32(1), 3–31. doi:10.1002/gps.4529 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Chodosh J, Tulsky A, Naumburg E, Branca L, Frankel RM, McCann RM, … Hall WJ (1999). What residents want to know about geriatrics: An approach to curriculum development. Gerontology & Geriatrics Education, 20(2), 19–35. doi:10.1300/J021v20n02_03 - DOI
    1. DiNapoli EA, Cully JA, Mott JM, Hundt NE, Mignogna J, Sansgiry S, … Kunik ME (2015). Mental health utilization among older Veterans with coexisting depression and dementia. SAGE Open Med, 3, 2050312114566488. doi:10.1177/2050312114566488 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms