Development and Evaluation of Neighborhood Care Volunteer Training Programs—Preparing for Older Adult Community Care in Taiwan

Abstract

The prevalence of chronic diseases and functional disorders is projected to escalate as the older adult population increases. Thus, the demand for and burdens of long-term care are increasing. Training middle-aged and older volunteers at the community level will enhance health promotion and disease prevention in communities. In this study, multilevel volunteer training programs and related implementation methods were designed for neighborhood caregivers. This study was divided into two phases. In Phase 1, an expert review was conducted using the modified Delphi method to congregate expert opinions into an interdisciplinary consensus and establish the content and methods of implementation of the multilevel training program. In Phase 2, the training programs were implemented and evaluated. In Phase 1, 17 experts in geriatric and long-term care were enrolled in the Delphi surveys. Consensus was defined as at least 80% agreement. These experts devised volunteer training programs for neighborhood caregivers at three levels: basic caregiver training, advanced caregiver training, and volunteer caregiver instructor training. The curriculum focused on fulfilling the health demands of neighborhood care; adopted disability-prevention and disability-delaying healthcare as the basic framework; and referred to the attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction model of motivational design. This model of motivational design drew on the attributes of volunteers and the current state of care programs, including interest, program difficulty, and feasibility of future services. In Phase 2, 50 community middle-aged and older volunteers enrolled in the training programs and, after completing the program, were asked to evaluate their satisfaction with the program content and program effectiveness. A high level of satisfaction was reported across all three levels. The training programs achieved satisfactory consistency and convergence and were well received by the volunteer trainees. These programs may be referenced in the development of future training programs and the creation of a model of community healthcare services. The curriculum was designed from the learners' perspective with direct healthcare applications. A progressive multilevel set of neighborhood care volunteer training programs was offered to cultivate community volunteers.