CAPABLE

Hybrid and face-to-face training taught by JHU professors and clinicians is available so that your organization can easily provide the CAPABLE program. Two different tracks are offered: one for nurses, the other for Occupational Therapists.  Our team of experts can design evaluation tools to gauge the program’s effectiveness across criteria such as cost-savings or health outcomes that matter to the organization.

The target audiences of CAPABLE training include health care systems, accountable care organizations, insurance companies, state/county/city Department of Aging, skilled nursing facilities, nursing homes, home healthcare agencies and non-profits in the healthcare and housing sectors.

Faculty

Sarah L. Szanton, PhD., A.N.P.
sszanto1@jhu.edu

While making house calls as a nurse practitioner to homebound, low-income older adults in West Baltimore, Sarah noticed that their environmental challenges were often as pressing as their health challenges. This inspired her to explore ways to make it possible for low-income older adults to live in their own homes for a longer period of time. Her “aha” moment came when she realized the potential impact home maintenance could have on health. Sarah has since developed a program of research, The Community Aging in Place—Advancing Better Living for Elders (CAPABLE) that combines handyman services with nursing and occupational therapy to improve mobility, reduce stress, and decrease health care costs. When she’s not investigating ways to help older adults “age in place”, Sarah mentors and teaches future nurse researchers as a Professor and the Director of the PhD program at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing.

Meet the Investigators

• Sarah L. Szanton, PhD, CRNP, Principal Investigator, JHU School of Nursing
• David Bishai, MD, PhD, JHU Bloomberg School of Public Health
• Cynthia M. Boyd, MD, MPH, JHU Bloomberg School of Public Health
• Laura N. Gitlin, PhD, JHU School of Nursing
• Jack Guralnik, MD, PhD, University of Maryland School of Medicine
• Bruce Leff, MD,  JHU School of Medicine
• David Roth, PhD, Center on Aging and Health
• Elizabeth K. Tanner, PhD, RN, JHU School of Nursing
• Roland J. Thorpe, Jr., PhD, JHU Bloomberg School of Public Health
• Jennifer Wolff, PhD, JHU Bloomberg School of Public Health

Who is eligible for CAPABLE certification?

Nurses and Occupational therapists (OTs)

Training and Certification Requirements

To use the CAPABLE Program, training and certification is required. 

Training and Certification consists of the following activities

1. Completion of five 60 minute on-line learning modules (self-paced, recommend over 2 weeks)
2. Participation in up to an 8 hour in-person or live (virtual) webinar training
3. Five coaching calls

Here are some of the key topics covered in our learning modules

Module O (for both the OT and the RN):

• Background of CAPABLE
• Importance of Physical Function and Home Environment
• Aging with functional Limitations
• Motivational Interviewing

OT Module 1:

• Procedures and Documentation for the first visit
• Key tasks during the first visit

OT Module 2:

• Administration of home visit 2, which includes:
• Review of first visit
• Conducting a home tour
• Discussion of fall prevention and recovery strategies
• Determine which repairs need to be made
• Identification of modifications, assistive equipment and devices needed

OT Module 3:

• Conducting 3rd, 4th and 5th home visit, which includes:
• Developing, delivering and modifying the action plan
• Demonstrate and practice strategies

OT Module 4:

• Delivering the final visit, which includes:
• Reviewing goals met/partially met/not met
• Determining a final readiness-to-change scale score

RN Module 1:

• Procedures and Documentation for the first visit
• Key tasks during the first visit
  • Building rapport
  • Assessing function
• Assisting in selecting goals

RN Module 2:

• Administration of home visit 2, which includes:
• Review medication list
• Demonstrate CAPABLE exercises
• Brainstorm and problem solving for target areas

RN Module 3:

• Completing Home Visit 3, which includes:
• Brainstorm strategies
• Action planning
• Evaluate communication between participant and her health care provider

RN Module 4:

• Conducting Home Visit 4
• Complete action program
• Review accomplishments of program
• Assess readiness to change

View a sample of a section of an online module

Learning Objectives  - Face to Face

1. Review questions about the program
2. Review key principles
3. Practice through case presentations
4. Discuss what to do in difficult situations