New Findings from University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in the Area of Dementia Described (Training professional caregivers to screen for report of cognitive changes in persons with intellectual disability): Neurodegenerative Diseases and Conditions – Dementia

2023 JAN 10 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- New research on dementia is the subject of a new report. According to news reporting out of the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health by NewsRx editors, research stated, “By age 60, 60% of adults with Down syndrome (DS) have dementia. Detecting dementia in persons with intellectual disability (ID) can be challenging because their underlying cognitive impairment can confound presentation of dementia symptoms and because adults with ID may have difficulty reporting symptoms.”

The news correspondents obtained a quote from the research from University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health: “The National Task Group Early Detection Screen for Dementia (NTG-EDSD) was developed to aid detection of report of cognitive impairment in adults with ID. We implemented an educational curriculum using the NTG-EDSD and evaluated the impact of the intervention on professional caregivers’ self-assessed capacity to identify persons with ID and dementia. We held five in-person training sessions for professional caregivers of persons with ID, partnering with various managed care organizations and social services agencies. We assessed knowledge and attitudes at baseline; immediately after training; and 1 week, 1 month, and 6 months after training. A total of 154 direct care workers, case managers, health-care providers, and other social services staff attended the trainings. Satisfaction with the NTG-EDSD training was high; 94% of attendees agreed or strongly agreed that they could use the NTG-EDSD with their clients. After training, attendees reported a marked increase in confidence in their ability to track various health circumstances and detect functional decline in their clients, although some gains were not sustained over time. As a result of the training, one managed care organization made the NTG-EDSD a standard part of its assessment of adults with DS starting at age 40.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “Social services and health-care professionals can learn to document signs of cognitive decline in adults with ID using the NTG-EDSD. Attendees were highly satisfied with the training, experienced an increase in confidence in their care of persons with ID, and found the NTG- EDSD feasible to use. Because not all gains were sustained over time, booster trainings may be necessary.”

For more information on this research see: Training professional caregivers to screen for report of cognitive changes in persons with intellectual disability. Alzheimer’s & Dementia: Translational Research & Clinical Interventions, 2022,8(1):n/a-n/a. The publisher for Alzheimer’s & Dementia: Translational Research & Clinical Interventions is Wiley.

A free version of this journal article is available at https://doi.org/10.1002/trc2.12345.

Our news editors report that more information may be obtained by contacting Art Walaszek, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health Madison Wisconsin, United States. Additional authors for this research include Tammi Albrecht, Tamara LeCaire, Noelia Sayavedra, Molly Schroeder, Jody Krainer, Gregory Prichett, Mickell Wilcenski, Sarah Endicott, Sydney Russmann, Cynthia M. Carlsson, Jane Mahoney.

(Our reports deliver fact-based news of research and discoveries from around the world.)