Nursing home aides are the primary care providers for the institutionalized elderly but, until recently, aides have received very little formal training. Recognizing this, some community colleges have implemented in-service training programs. This paper presents the results of an impact assessment of the Saskatchewan program offered by Kelsey Institute of Applied Arts and Science. The sample included 86 aides from 16 nursing homes selected at random from both rural and urban areas. Results from this study show that program graduates knew significantly more about simple nursing skills, the aging process, and the philosophy of long term care in comparison to aides from nursing homes that did not offer this in-service training (non-participants). Program graduates were also significantly more likely to describe their health care team as functioning effectively. However, attitudes of program graduates toward the elderly were not significantly different from non-participants. The vast majority of the aides, whether trained or untrained, held positive attitudes toward the elderly. Implications and limitations of these results are discussed in conjunction with information from interviews with three Directors of Care who have experience implementing and supervising this in-service training program.
