Project Summary

The National Dementia Workforce Study (NDWS) was established in Fall 2023 through a cooperative agreement with the National Institute on Aging to field the first large, national surveys of the professional dementia care workforce in the U.S.

This collaborative, interdisciplinary endeavor is led by teams at the University of Michigan and the University of California, San Francisco, with several other university-based and non-profit partners.

NDWS will field annual surveys of physicians, advanced practice providers, nurses, direct care workers, and other health care professionals in four key practice settings: community clinicians, nursing home staff, assisted living staff, and home care staff.

Survey data have the potential for linkage with a host of other data sources, including patient outcomes and facility data, to create an unprecedented data resource to answer critical questions about the large and diverse workforce caring for persons living with dementia (PLWD) in the U.S.

Project Aims

Aim 1: Launch a family of 4 nationally representative professional dementia workforce surveys covering key care delivery settings in the U.S.

Aim 2: Through the National Dementia Workforce Study, build a data infrastructure surrounding the dementia workforce surveys that allows researchers to generate critical insights into the professional dementia care workforce and associated outcomes for PLWD.

Aim 3: Develop and expand the community of researchers focused on the professional dementia care workforce overall and support use of the National Dementia Workforce Study data infrastructure.

Project Methods

Over the next five years, this set of four surveys aims to include over 70,000 unique contacts collected from over 40,000 unique respondents, all of which will be available to researchers for stand-alone analysis or for use with a host of linked data sources. This data infrastructure will be accompanied by myriad efforts to facilitate and promote its use, allowing researchers to generate unprecedented insights into the nature and training of the professional dementia care workforce, along with the capacity to connect this information to actual, objective measures of care delivered to persons living with dementia in the United States.

Project Findings / expected Findings

The National Dementia Workforce Study will be an invaluable data source to shape training and policy affecting PLWD in the U.S., which is a critical need in face of this looming public health crisis.

Outputs / expected Outputs

Survey questionnaires and other project products will be available at the website.