Date of Award

Spring 6-15-2021

Scholarly Projects

Projects: SPU Access Only

Degree Name

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)

Department

Nursing

Faculty Chair

Lena Hristova

Faculty Reader

N/A

Executive Summary

Background and Significance

The homeless population is at an increased risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) due to the trauma of living outdoors and the population’s common experience of trauma early in life that resulted in homelessness (Stafford & Wood, 2017). Providing education on the disease for the homeless population is important and will potentially improve quality of life (National Institute of Mental Health, n.d.). Staff at a homeless shelter were educated about PTSD to increase their own knowledge and educate homeless residents about PTSD.

Problem Statement

Homeless people do not have access to healthcare resources for a myriad of reasons including unemployment, domestic violence, and being socially disconnected (Stafford & Wood, 2017). Homeless residents and staff at a homeless shelter lack the knowledge about PTSD to identify and manage symptoms of the disease. Both the staff and homeless residents need access to health information, especially concerning PTSD, because of the prevalence of trauma in the homeless population.

Purpose Statement

The purpose of the project proposal was to create a health information education module about PTSD for staff at a homeless shelter to use to educate the homeless residents. The project involved a training program for staff that included pretest-posttest design, Likert confidence survey, and the teach back method to evaluate the effectiveness of the program.

Methods

One virtual class session was completed over Zoom for staff at a homeless shelter. Class session included PowerPoint presentation, case studies, and teach back method to ensure comprehension of the information. Sampling was limited based on the number of staff members the organization has and which staff members were available for an online learning class – six participants attended the class. Participants completed a pretest, posttest immediately after the class, and a posttest at two and four weeks after the class session to assess long term information comprehension. Participants also completed a Likert scale confidence survey at the same intervals.

Results

Pretest knowledge score average 96%, increasing to an average of 100% at four weeks after the class session. Likert Scale score average 3.6 before the class and 4.5 at four weeks after the class session.

Sustainability

To ensure sustainability of the project all educational materials were sent to the educational lead including the PowerPoint and brochure. In addition, a recording of the class session was delivered to the organizational lead for current staff unable to attend the class and future staff to watch. The organizational lead will provide the PowerPoint, brochure, and recorded class session for all future employees.

Implications for Practice

This project gave insight on the topic of providing healthcare information training for an organization that does not have healthcare employees. Additionally, the project provided information specifically about non-healthcare workers being trained on healthcare information in order to educate others who are non-healthcare workers.

References

National Institute of Mental Health. (n.d.). Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder [PDF]. Retrieved from https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/post-traumatic-stress-disorder-ptsd/ptsd-508-05172017_38054.pdf

Stafford, A., & Wood, L. (2017). Tackling health disparities for people who are homeless? Start with social determinants. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 14(12). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14121535

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