Bingocize: An evidence-based health promotion program to improve the quality of life of Kentucky nursing home residents

An important component of our implementation plan is the partnership between the nursing home facility staff and their local university faculty and students. In past research, facility staff frequently remark that student involvement is important to residents, who might otherwise have limited opportunity to have visitors or to interact with vibrant younger adults (Crandall, 2014). Participating university faculty have agreed to assign qualified student s each semester (fall, spring, summer) to help the facility staff administer the Bingocize® program for the 3-year project period. Trained nursing home staff, however, will have ultimate responsible for the program. The faculty member, along with the BPD, will oversee their students to ensure quality instruction and fidelity of the program. To ensure faculty members are not overwhelmed managing this project, they will assign students enrolled in existing courses, internships, practicums, research hours, etc. to help administer the program. Participating faculty will be compensated for completing an initial two-hour online training and overseeing student participation. We anticipate university faculty will continue to assign students to the nursing home facilities even after the project period ends because of the relationships that will develop and the benefits that will accrue. Research has shown that students who participate in high impact educational experiences such as service learning are more likely to stay in school and persist to graduation. We also anticipate students will use their experiences to implement Bingocize® in additional facilities as they move into professional careers. Each faculty member will complete a 2-hour face-to-face training conducted by the BPD and WKU students at their respective university. Faculty will learn how to properly administer the Bingocize® program, the specific objectives of the program, and techniques to better communicate with residents suffering from varying levels of dementia. A major focus will be on how to coordinate, train, and assign students to each nursing home facility. Dr. Crandall will provide an example of a syllabus and rubrics to help faculty with this process. The same online training created for nursing home facility staff will be used to train students. A post training assessment will be administered at the end of the training and a grade of 80% is required for successful completion. Certificates of completion will be awarded to each trained student.