Logo image
Back
"Non-inferiority of Online Versus In-Person Training for Health Professionals Delivering the COPE Dementia Care Program in PACE Settings"
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

"Non-inferiority of Online Versus In-Person Training for Health Professionals Delivering the COPE Dementia Care Program in PACE Settings"

Nancy A. Hodgson, Karen B. Hirschman, Liming Huang, Emily Summerhayes, Catherine Verrier Piersol, Patricia Pokrandt, Caroline McElroy and Laura N. Gitlin
The American journal of geriatric psychiatry. Open science, education, and practice, Forthcoming
Apr 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.osep.2026.03.004
Featured in Collection :   Drexel's Newest Publications
url
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.osep.2026.03.004View
Published, Version of Record (VoR) Open

Abstract

implementation non-inferiority online training
•The primary aim of this study was to determine if asynchronous online training in the evidence-based dementia care program COPE is non-inferior to the traditional synchronous training for improving clinician knowledge, competence and for•Both training modalities showed similar impacts on clinician knowledge and skills.•Caregivers who received COPE from clinicians trained in either approach showed significant improvement in the Perceived Change Index (p=0.0034) and reported increased confidence in managing target behaviors.•For their primary target behavior, caregivers who received COPE from online-trained clinicians demonstrated significantly greater improvement in confidence than those who received COPE from clinicians trained in-person (p=0.0064).•These findings support online training as a scalable approach for disseminating evidence-based dementia care programs in long-term care settings without compromising effectiveness. This study evaluates the equivalency (non-inferiority) of two approaches to training clinicians in the delivery of an evidence-based dementia caregiving program in PACE (Programs of All-Inclusive Care of the Elderly) settings. Considered are clinician outcomes following each training method and PACE participant-caregiver outcomes following COPE receipt after 4 months. 11 PACE settings were randomized to have clinicians trained in-person (n=7) or online (n=4) to deliver COPE to caregivers of patients with dementia. PACE provides long-term care services and support to dually eligible older adults (PACE participants), most of whom have dementia diagnoses, to age-in-place at home. The study included occupational therapists (n=14) and registered nurses (n=8) employed at participating PACE sites. Caregivers (n=17) and PACE participants (n=17) with dementia were enrolled as dyads to receive COPE. Primary outcomes included changes in clinician knowledge and training satisfaction via the Knowledge and Skills Survey and implementation competence via the Normalization Process Theory (NoMad) survey. For dyad outcomes, caregivers identified priority areas using validated assessments, selected up to four "target behaviors" and rated confidence in managing each. No significant differences were found between training groups in clinician or dyad characteristics. Training modalities showed similar impacts on clinician knowledge and skills, with no statistically significant differences between groups in change scores across NoMad domains (all p>0.3). After COPE, all caregivers reported significant improvement in the Perceived Change Index (p=0.0034) and increased confidence in managing target behaviors. Online training in COPE was non-inferior to in-person training for clinician competence and PACE participant-caregiver outcomes. These findings support online training as a scalable approach for disseminating evidence-based dementia care programs without compromising effectiveness.

Metrics

1 Record Views

Details

Logo image