NDWS Overview

The National Dementia Workforce Study (NDWS), sponsored by the NIH National Institute on Aging, is fielding the first large, nationally representative surveys of the professional dementia care workforce in the United States. Year 1 surveys entered the field in August 2024, with data expected in early Spring 2025.

This collaborative, interdisciplinary endeavor was established in Fall 2023 and is led by teams at the University of Michigan and the University of California, San Francisco, with several other university-based and non-profit partners. 

NDWS is fielding annual surveys of community clinicians, and nursing home, assisted living, and home health care staff. The staff surveys also have an administrator survey to learn more about how each organization operates. 

Surveys are designed to help researchers understand the composition and training of this large and diverse workforce, including physicians, advanced practice providers, nurses, direct care workers, and other health care professionals that provide care to persons living with dementia (PLWD).

Survey data have the potential for linkage with a host of other data sources, including beneficiary-level Medicare claims or county-level health care resources, to create an unprecedented data resource. A broad network of researchers is encouraged to use these data to generate important insights into how background, training, and other workforce factors impact care and outcomes for PLWD.

NDWS will also support scientists and researchers through annual pilot grants to facilitate multiple high-impact research studies using NDWS data. The first call for pilot applications was released in August 2024. The aim is to help researchers and policymakers translate research results into improved practice and policy.

Our Mission

Ensuring there is an effective workforce to care for the growing population of PLWD is perhaps the top public health challenge facing the U.S. in coming decades. In 2020, over 6 million Americans had Alzheimer's disease or related dementias, and that number will more than double to nearly 14 million by 2060. 

There are currently many knowledge gaps in understanding this workforce that includes millions of workers and has enormous influence on the quality and costs of care for PLWD. While there is a vast body of research focused on family and other unpaid caregivers, far less is known about the professional workforce and the factors that underlie issues such as large variation in care process and outcomes, and high employee turnover.

The NDWS data infrastructure, including workforce surveys and linked data, will provide a foundation for researchers and policymakers to generate insights into how workforce factors impact care and outcomes.

To improve care for PLWD overall, it is critical to understand the factors that influence clinical decisions and practice, and to identify training needs, quality of care interventions, and areas in need of implementation science efforts to advance evidence-based care.