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Caregivers Finding Important Resources, Support, and Training (Caregivers FIRST)
Share PrintCaregivers FIRST (Formerly Helping Invested Families Improve Veterans' Experiences or IHI-FIVES) is offered to caregivers of Veterans of all eras and diagnoses, and is a highly adaptable “grab and go” curriculum package that includes four in-person classes (60-75 minutes each) and optional training topics. The program is designed to help caregivers build coping, support-seeking, and hands-on skills and strategies while connecting with VA supports available and each other.
Origin:
March 2013, Durham VA Medical Center
Adoptions:
106 successful
Awards and Recognition:
QUERI Partnered Evaluation Initiative
Partners:
Caregiver Support Program, Quality Enhancement Research Initiative
Recent Updates
Overview
Problem
Solution
Results
Caregivers FIRST is expected to:
Improve caregiver satisfaction ... The results of the trial showed promising outcomes including increased caregiver’s satisfaction of VA care at 6 months and at 12 months and Veteran’s satisfaction at 12 months, reduced caregiver feelings of isolation, and increased Veteran days at home in the community at 12 months (9% more)*.
Caregivers FIRST is expected to:
Improve caregiver satisfaction of VA care*
Increase Veteran days in the community*
Increase size of general caregiver support programs within the VA
Increase rates of ‘outstanding’ sites for CSP metric of general caregiver support quality See more
Links
- Published Results Family Caregiver Skills Training to Improve Experiences of Care
Metrics
- 97% of caregiver participants agree or strongly agree that the training was worth the time invested (2018-2020 caregiver participant evaluations, n=124).
Diffusion tracker
Does not include Clinical Resource Hubs (CRH)
Multimedia
Images
The randomized control trial was shown to: 1 ) Increase the experience of VA care for caregivers at 6 months and 12 months and for patients at 12 months; 2) Reduce caregiver feelings of isolation; 3) Increase Veteran days in the community (not in an institution) at 12 months (9% more)
Implementation
Timeline
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Months 1-3
• Review the potential benefits and program components for Caregivers FIRST.• Gather leadership support.• Determine any program adaptations.• Develop a plan for program documentation.• Develop and operationalize plan for caregiver recruitment.• Deliver train-the-trainer with program facilitators. -
Month 4-6: Launch Caregivers FIRST
• With team, conduct debrief to review first found of Caregivers FIRST and discuss barriers and facilitators.
Departments
- Mental health care
- Social work
- Chaplaincy
- Geriatrics
- Caregiver support
Core Resources
| Resource type | Resource description |
|---|---|
PEOPLE |
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PROCESSES |
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TOOLS |
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Files
- Class Curriculum Overview Caregivers First Curriculum Overview
Links
- Website CaregiversFIRST
Support Resources
Files
- Implementation Support for Sites Implementation Support for Sites
Links
- CaregiversFIRST Sharepoint Site with all Training Materials and Toolkits Sharepoint
About
Origin story
Original team
Courtney Van Houtven
Project Lead
Kasey Decosimo
Project Coordinator
Josh D'adolf
Caregiver Support Coordinator
Matthew Tucker
Research Assistant
Comment
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