Primary care provider preferences on dementia training and care navigation services: A qualitative study

Background Dementia has no cure but interventions can stabilize the progression of cognitive, functional, and behavioral symptoms. Primary care providers (PCPs) are vital for the early detection, and long-term management of these diseases, given their gatekeeping role in the healthcare system. However, PCPs rarely implement evidence-based dementia care due to barriers such as limited dementia knowledge and time. Training PCPs and linking them to dementia care navigators may address these barriers. Objective We explored the preferences of PCPs about dementia care training programs and dementia care navigation services. Methods We conducted qualitative interviews with 24 PCPs recruited nationally via snowball sampling. We conducted all interviews via videocall and organized the transcripts for qualitative review to identify codes and themes, using a pragmatic approach, a qualitative description methodology, and thematic analysis methods. Results PCP preferences varied regarding the topic, duration, materials, modality, and incentives of the dementia training. With regards to dementia care navigation services, preferences varied with respect to whether they benefited the PCP or the patient, and which were the optimal qualities of a dementia care navigator. Conclusions Dementia training and care navigation services would benefit from embedding cultural proficiency within their content, materials, and navigation abilities. EMR-based decision-support tools would facilitate PCPs’ implementation of evidence-based dementia care. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. ### Funding Statement This work was supported by the NIH under Grants K01 MD014177, R24 AG063724, and P30 AG072973. ### Author Declarations I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained. Yes The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below: The University of Kansas Medical Center Institutional Review Board gave ethical approval for this work I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals. Yes I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance). Yes I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines and uploaded the relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material as supplementary files, if applicable. Yes All data produced in the present study are available upon reasonable request to the authors