Objectives: Effective education and support for adults with dementia and their caregivers around pandemic issues is critical for protecting them. Animation-based learning has shown promise in patient education. We collaborated with educators and support staff at Alzheimer's Association Connecticut (AACT) to conduct a mixed-methods study and develop an animated e-curriculum addressing pandemic related challenges.
Methods: We conducted focus groups and surveys with dementia and caregiver educators and support staff at AACT for the initial needs assessment and the later e-curriculum evaluation. An interdisciplinary team of educators followed a step-wise process to transform the needs assessment results into an animation based e-curriculum.
Results: Participants identified the following pandemic challenges: 1) social isolation, 2) caregiver fatigue, 3) safety, and 4) difficulty navigating the healthcare system. The overall quality and usefulness of the e-curriculum was "very good" or "excellent".
Conclusions: An animated e-curriculum addressing pandemic related issues relevant to adults with dementia and caregivers had positive reviews and was associated with improvement in self-reported ability to perform curriculum objectives among community dementia educators.
Practice implications: The pandemic challenges identified may facilitate the development of further resources. Additionally, this project may serve as a guide for clinicians interested in incorporating animation into education efforts.
Keywords: Animation; Caregiver; Dementia; Education; Pandemic.
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