Increasing Educator Resources for Mild Cognitive Impairment and Dementia Using a Knowledge-to-Action Framework: The Development of DementiaBank Grand Rounds

PURPOSE: An educational gap exists in content knowledge and clinical education for speech-language pathologists concerning the treatment and assessment of cognitive-communication disorders from mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or dementia due to Alzheimer's disease (AD). This gap may result in less effective speech-language pathology services for this population. The overarching goal of this project was to enhance graduate speech-language pathology education about MCI and dementia due to AD to improve the quality of future service providers. METHOD: To achieve this goal, this project had two objectives: first, to conduct a survey to understand speech-language pathology graduate school education practices in clinical and classroom settings regarding cognitive-communication disorders from MCI or dementia due to AD and, second, to conduct focus groups to guide the development of an online educational resource, informed by speech-language pathology graduate school educators. A knowledge-to-action (KTA) conceptual framework provided guidance to translate findings from the survey and focus groups into a highly implementable educational resource. RESULTS: Educators of graduate speech-language pathology students reported a crucial need for additional accessible resources to assist them in teaching or supervising cognitive-communication disorders from MCI or dementia due to AD. The existing TalkBank educational resource, Grand Rounds, was explored through educator focus groups, and feedback directly informed the creation of a new educational resource tailored for this population. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, an educational resource, DementiaBank Grand Rounds, was successfully developed for cognitive-communication disorders associated with MCI and dementia due to AD, utilizing the KTA framework. DementiaBank Grand Rounds may serve as a resource to support learners and educators and address the current gap in content knowledge and clinical education. SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.31839664.