Building Core Competencies of Taiwanese Care Food Specialists: Curriculum Design and Outcome Assessment
For patients and families
In plain language
An automatic summary of structured registry data. It is an orientation aid, not a substitute for the official protocol or a physician assessment.
- What is being studied
- The protocol lists: Core Competency Training Course for Eating Support Healthcare Aides (20-Hour Course).
- Who it may be relevant to
- Registry conditions: Healthy. Basic parameters: from 19 years · All.
- What needs checking
- Age, condition and sex are only basic indicators. Prior treatment, laboratory values and other mandatory requirements appear in the eligibility criteria below.
- Where it takes place
- Taiwan
- Next step
- Save the trial, show it to the treating physician, and confirm current recruitment with the study center. Costs, documents and travel →
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Official title
Nursing Department Assistant Professor
Overview
Background: As Taiwan faces an aging population, the demand for long- term care services continues to rise, increasing the need for skilled care workers. Care Food Specialists, focusing on food preparation and oral health in long-term care, are essential for improving care quality. Objective: This project aims to develop a core competency training curriculum for Care Food Specialists in Taiwan and assess its effectiveness in enhancing care worker skills. Methods: Over two years, participants were recruited from various regions for training, with pre- and post-course assessments and qualitative interviews to evaluate changes in knowledge, attitude, and behavior. Conclusion/Practical Applications: The project successfully designed and implemented a training curriculum, providing evidence of its positive impact on long-term care quality and offering a practical framework for future competency-based training.
Detailed description
This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a Core Competency Training Course for Eating Support Healthcare Aides on knowledge and skills related to safe feeding practices, oral care, dysphagia diet management, and nutrition support for individuals with chewing or swallowing difficulties. The study employs a three-arm waitlist control trial (WCT) design, including both students and industry professionals, to comprehensively assess learning outcomes across different participant populations.
Study Design and Groups:
Participants are assigned to one of three groups:
1. Student Immediate Intervention Group (IG): Students receive the 20-hour training program at the beginning of the study. 2. Student Waitlist Control Group (WG): Students receive the same training after the initial study period, serving as a delayed intervention control. 3. Industry Group (RG): Current professional healthcare aides who receive the training concurrently with the student immediate intervention group.
This design allows comparison of pre- and post-intervention changes in the student immediate group, assessment of delayed intervention effects in the waitlist group, and evaluation of differences between students and industry professionals.
Participant Recruitment:
Student Group: Fifth-year junior college and third-year technical program students in long-term care-related programs, aged 19 years or older, who have completed a "Basic Care Practice and Laboratory" course and are able to attend the full 20-hour training. Students who are unwilling or have prior swallowing-related training are excluded.
Industry Group: Current professional healthcare aides aged 20 years or older with at least one year of experience in community or institutional long-term care settings, able to communicate in Mandarin and Taiwanese, and able to attend the full 20-hour course. Exclusion criteria include non-current employment, lack of language proficiency, or inability to complete the training.
Intervention (Training Program): The 20-hour Core Competency Training Course
Outcomes and Evaluation:
Participants' knowledge, practical skills, and competence in safe feeding and nutrition support are assessed pre- and post-intervention. Comparisons among groups allow evaluation of the training's immediate effects, delayed intervention impact, and differences between students and experienced professionals.
This comprehensive study design ensures both rigorous evaluation of the intervention's effectiveness and ethical inclusion of all student participants while providing practical insights for improving long-term care training programs.
Interventions
- Other Core Competency Training Course for Eating Support Healthcare Aides (20-Hour Course)
Core Competency Training Course for Eating Support Healthcare Aides, a 20-hour program designed to enhance knowledge and skills in providing safe and effective feeding support. The course comprised the following modules: 1. Oral Changes and Basic Care Concepts (2 hours) 2. Assisting Clients with Safe Eating (2 hours) 3. Oral Hygiene and Care (3 hours, including practical skills) 4. Dysphagia Diet Standards and Meal Texture Modification (2 hours) 5. Food Storage, Cleaning, and Pre-/Mid-Processin
Primary outcome measures
- Eating Support for Healthcare Aides (ESHA) Questionnaire [Time frame: Baseline, Immediately after the 20-hour intervention course]
Eligibility criteria
Student Group Inclusion Criteria
- Enrolled in a long-term care-related educational program (either a five-year junior college program or a four-year technical program).
- In the year immediately preceding graduation (fifth-year junior college students or third-year technical program students).
- Aged 19 years or older.
- Had completed the Basic Care Practice and Laboratory course.
- Able to attend the full 20-hour training course.
Exclusion criteria
- Unwilling to participate or unable to complete the full 20-hour course (e.g., due to other academic commitments)
- Industry Healthcare Aide Group
Inclusion criteria
- Currently employed as a professional healthcare aide in community-based or institutional long-term care settings.
- Actively working in a care aide role with at least one year of relevant experience.
- Possess a valid Taiwan Care Worker Training Certificate.
- Aged 20 years or older.
- Able to communicate in both Mandarin and Taiwanese.
- Able to attend the full 20-hour training course.
Exclusion criteria
- Younger than 20 years of age.
- Unable to communicate in Mandarin and Taiwanese.
- Not currently employed as a community or institutional care aide.
- Unable to complete the full 20-hour course
Criteria are shown verbatim from the registry (in English). Final eligibility is always assessed by the study center.
Healthy volunteers: No
Study design
- Allocation
- Non-randomized
- Model
- Crossover
- Masking
- Triple blind
- Primary purpose
- Other
Study locations
Taiwan · 1 center
- Chang Gung Medical Foundation — Tainan
Publications
- Waldron C, Nunn J, Mac Giolla Phadraig C, Comiskey C, Guerin S, van Harten MT, Donnelly-Swift E, Clarke MJ. Oral hygiene interventions for people with intellectual disabilities. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2019 May 31;5(5):CD012628. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD012628.pub2. PMID 31149734
- Newman R, Vilardell N, Clave P, Speyer R. Effect of Bolus Viscosity on the Safety and Efficacy of Swallowing and the Kinematics of the Swallow Response in Patients with Oropharyngeal Dysphagia: White Paper by the European Society for Swallowing Disorders (ESSD). Dysphagia. 2016 Apr;31(2):232-49. doi: 10.1007/s00455-016-9696-8. Epub 2016 Mar 25. PMID 27016216
- Chen S, Kent B, Cui Y. Interventions to prevent aspiration in older adults with dysphagia living in nursing homes: a scoping review. BMC Geriatr. 2021 Jul 17;21(1):429. doi: 10.1186/s12877-021-02366-9. PMID 34273953
- Lin CH, Liu MY. Development and Validation of the Eating Support for Healthcare Aides (ESHA) Questionnaire in Long-Term Care. Nutrients. 2025 Oct 15;17(20):3235. doi: 10.3390/nu17203235. PMID 41156487
Identifiers
NCT: NCT07384481 · linchiahui