Care agencies, public/policy services, universities, and other institutions may provide basic training for untrained care workers. However, we do not know whether that includes dementia and to what extent such courses are of good quality. Families may require informal care workers to be trained, but there is not a national/local regulation about this. The Ministry of Education ensures the quality (content, length, delivery mode) of such courses, which can be delivered online, including by the Ministry of Education itself through the Federal Institutes of Research.

Yes, by the Department of Health. For details, please refer to Part 8.

The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (MSJE) provides financial aid to institutions at regional centres to train caregivers. Some of the non-governmental institutions that offer such training programmes in long-term care are the Nightingale Medical Trust in Bangalore, Alzheimer’s and Related Disorders Society of India (ARDSI), and Pallium India. Moreover, ARDSI offers training particularly for dementia caregivers.

Yayasan Emong Lansia (YEL), an NGO, has established a Jakarta-based training program at local and national level based on the needs of people involved in the care of older persons. The training program is called the Indonesia Training Center on Ageing (ITCOA, n.d.) . It is an initiative built together with the Indonesia Alzheimer Association and aims to improve knowledge, skills, and understanding of individuals and groups that work across all levels of care for older people in Indonesia.

References:

ITCOA. (n.d.). Indonesia Training Center on Aging (ITCOA).

The Mona Ageing and Wellness Centre at the University of the West Indies, Mona, intermittently provides some short courses targeted at caregivers, family members of older adults, older adults and persons interested in providing care for older adults (UWI, 2019). These have included Older Adult Caregivers’ Training, Diabetes Mellitus Management, and practical hands-on training on checking vital signs, insulin administration and nutrition.

Plans are underway at the centre to develop new courses: Understanding Mental Health and First Aid and CPR. In partnership with PAHO, MAWC conducted a one-off ageing workshop for health care workers in the North-East Regional Health Authority (NERHA) which focused on issues such as nutrition, communication, health services and the built environment.

The Human Employment and Resource Training Trust National Training Agency (HEART) also provides training for ‘untrained’ workers as it is a key provider of technical and vocational training targeting school leavers (who passed at least 2 of their 6-8 subjects at the CXC examination level) and employed persons who wish to secure certification or further their career options. The Heart Trust operates 27 training centres island wide and aims to promote the development of human resource capital in Jamaica and improve the lives of citizens seeking training. Programmes provided by HEART include year-long courses in Allied Health- Geriatric Care, which may be a training option for ‘live-in carers’ or ‘caregivers’ who are otherwise ‘untrained’ (Heart NSTA Trust, 2019).

References:

Heart NSTA Trust. (2019). Programmes: Allied Health Geriatric Care. Available from: https://ndar.heart-nta.org/programmes.aspx

University of the West Indies. (2019). Mona Ageing and Wellness Centre. Available from: https://www.mona.uwi.edu/sites/default/files/uwi/reports/wellness.pdf

There is no training for ‘untrained’ paid workers. They learn on the job unless they make a request to ADOK to provide training through attending monthly support groups.

No training programmes are available or made specifically for untrained paid workers such as domestic workers; however, they could pay/register, for example, for the training course at the National Institute of Geriatrics. However, it is unlikely that employers would do this, or that these workers would search for this option as they generally have very low educational attainment and would not seek further training. But this is only from experience, as no studies or data are available.

See part 3.

NGOs provide training to carers in LTC facilities as well as home-carers (see 07.03.03).