Why Assessment is More Effective When It’s Conducted Over Time
Many people take the term “assessment” to be the first phase of a diagnostic or treatment program. But in the case of a comprehensive, long-term caregiver support program, assessment is actually much more effective when it’s treated as an ongoing process.
Through multiple clinical trials conducted with BRI Care Consultation, Benjamin Rose Institute on Aging’s evidence-based care-coaching program, we’ve learned that it takes time to identify and uncover all the areas of need within a caregiving environment, and that many needs are missed when using a one-and-done assessment model.
Within the BRI Care Consultation program, Care Consultants begin the assessment process during the first call, but are prepared to continue identifying new and ongoing issues throughout the first four months of delivering the program.
Here’s how the process works
Care Consultants are prompted to cover 24 areas of possible need for the care receiver and 11 for the caregiver for a total of 35 possible issues that may need to be addressed. We call these 35 potential issues Assessment Domains. These domains allow the care team to identify problems associated with common issues including:
- Activities of Daily Living
- Safety at home
- Depression and anxiety
- Finding appropriate resources
- Feelings of isolation
- Aging in place concerns
Addressing all 35 Assessment Domains in the first call would be overwhelming and, frankly, ineffective. Some areas of need would likely be overlooked, and if all the issues facing the caregiver and care receiver were compiled together, the list might look intimidating and insurmountable.
Which is why our assessment is designed to be ongoing. Using the Domains as a guide, the Care Consultant helps the care team identify the most immediate and important issues first. This enables participants to address their more pressing needs first, implement solutions and then begin to target other needs.
As the first issues are effectively dealt with, the Care Consultant reviews more of the domains with the care team to allow them to tackle the next challenges.
For example, if an older loved one is living with dementia and has begun to wander outside the home, the caregiver may likely cite that as the top priority. Once that issue is effectively addressed with appropriate home safety measures, the caregiver is often more comfortable identifying and creating solutions for secondary or less pressing needs, which may have been overlooked had the assessment process been contained to the first meeting.
By having these 35 Assessment Domains as an integral element of the Care Consultation process, Care Consultants are assured of discussing each and every one with the caregiver and the care receiver, helping to provide a more comprehensive, holistic approach to caregiver support.
Learn more about Care Consultation from this short video, visit our website or request more information at [email protected].