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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Gladys Gonzalez-Ramos, PhD, School of Social Work, New York University, 1 Washington Square North, New York, NY 10003, 212-260-8435, gmg1@nyu.edu, Elaine Cohen, PhD, Research Consultant, National Parkinson Foundation, 142 West End Avenue, suite 3T, New York, NY 10023, and Ruth Hagestuen, RN, MA, Field Services, National Parkinson Foundation, 1501 9th avenue NW, Miami, FL 33136.

This presentation highlights the evaluation of a national model interdisciplinary training program for social workers, considered a best practice program by the funding source ( Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). Allied Team Training for Parkinson (ATTP) is a 4 ½ day intensive training program, for social workers and other allied health professionals, in the comprehensive interdisciplinary assessment and care of persons with Parkinson disease (PD). Social workers are generally uninformed about PD, and largely absent or limited in their role on comprehensive PD care teams. Through ATTP, social workers learned about PD and their potential contribution to persons with PD and their caregivers struggling with psychosocial concerns throughout the illness. Other allied health professionals learned about the broader skills set of social workers in health care settings. Using a quasi-experimental pre-post design with control group, outcomes included statistically significant knowledge gains in social workers' understanding of PD, interdisciplinary care and cultural competence in care delivery, in comparison to a control group which showed no significant knowledge change. Trainees showed no significant knowledge decay at three-month follow up. Program satisfaction ratings were quite high and qualitative data confirmed the significant positive impact of ATTP on social workers attending (N=56), both in their interest in working with families affected by PD, and in their understanding of their role on the care team. As an evidence-based model training program, ATTP has important implications as a best practice model for training social workers dealing with chronic illnesses and allied health professional teams.

Learning Objectives:

• List best practices in training programs for chronic illness groups
• Identify challenges in implementing training programs for social workers and allied health professionals
• Describe evaluation strategies for social work training programs in chronic illness

Keywords: Chronic Diseases, Professional Training

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered