Efficacy of Psychosocial Care Training Programme for the Staff Working in Old Age Homes.

BACKGROUND: Training the old-age home staff is essential in raising geriatric mental health care standards in India. Inadequate knowledge on ageing and psychosocial interventions is a significant issue in old-age homes. Old-age home staff must know how to provide individualized psychosocial care and support for older adults. Hence this study aimed to test the feasibility of the psychosocial care training program for the staff working in old-age homes.

METHODS: A quasi-experimental research design (pre-post without a control group) was used. Forty-two staff members participated. Mary Starke Harper Aging Knowledge Exam (MSHAKE) and structured checklist to measure the staff's knowledge on ageing, psychosocial interventions, welfare legislations, schemes, and support services were administered before, immediately after, and two months after the program and the self-efficacy checklist was administered immediately and two months after the program, to examine the efficacy of the program.

RESULTS: Significant improvement was found in the ageing knowledge and the knowledge of psychosocial intervention and psychosocial care. These improvements continued for two months ( p < .001). Similarly, their self-efficacy in managing such problems was also sustained across two post-measurements ( p = .045).

CONCLUSIONS: Face-to-face training programs would enhance the knowledge of the old age home staff. This Psychosocial Care Training module can be used for training old age home staff to address various psychosocial needs, concerns and other psychosocial problems of the residents.