The purpose of this study was to explore what role online and offline support groups play in the lives of families with children who have developmental disabilities. Eight semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with married mothers who had one to five children. The study revealed that caregivers saw online and offline support groups as playing important but different roles in their lives and the lives of their families. Online support groups were particularly appreciated during the initial steps of learning about a child's disability when caregivers felt isolated and eager to learn more. During that stage, online support groups offered them volumes of valuable information and access to people across the world who go through similar experiences. Offline support groups offered participants of this study a sense of strong connection and belonging, and allowed them to spend time with other adults and learn about resources available in their community. The mothers also appreciated the opportunity provided to the children with disabilities and their siblings to make friends and spend time together.
Purpose
Interprofessional education and practices are increasingly recognized as vital to addressing complex health needs, including individuals living with Alzheimer's disease or other associated dementias (AD/OAD). An innovative approach to meet this need is to create a meaningful engagement experience, Spring EngAGEment, following a multidisciplinary patient-centered model to serve individuals with AD/OAD and their care partners in the community and to offer new interprofessional collaboration opportunities for college students and faculty across disciplines in nursing, recreation, and speech-language pathology. The Spring EngAGEment program was developed by lead undergraduate students in an outcome-based program planning course from the Department of Recreation, Parks & Leisure Services and implemented by student volunteers and faculty across the disciplines with ongoing mentorship from the author team and feedback from the local ACT on Alzheimer's team. The program offered community resource booths, gardening, music therapy, and physical activity education as a way to inform individuals with AD/OAD and their care partners on available community resources, increase their mental outlook, and help reduce their isolation and stress.
Conclusions
This interprofessional practice/interprofessional education experience not only allowed college students to facilitate collaboration with future health care professionals from a variety of disciplines but also provided the participants living with AD/OAD and their care partners with new ideas and strategies to help adjust to their life changes. Program outcomes from event participants with AD/OAD and student volunteers were reported. Lessons identified by the author team are discussed.
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