Bravo Zulu
Achieving Excellence in Relationship-Centered Dementia Care
In the language of naval signal flags, Bravo Zulu means “Job well done.” This is the 12-hour interactive dementia education program that helps care partners earn it — built for those who serve veterans, and for everyone who cares for an elder.
A Signal Worth Earning.
Bravo Zulu: Achieving Excellence in Relationship-Centered Dementia Care was developed by DEER Program Director Dr. Jennifer Carson in partnership with the Nevada Department of Veterans Services and the Perry Foundation.
Bravo Zulu — originally a naval signal for “Job well done!” — is an interactive dementia education program designed for professional and family care partners. It explores what it takes to get to “Bravo Zulu” within eldercare: skilled nursing, dementia care, and assisted living communities. The content serves home-based care and support just as well.
Twelve Hours That Change the Watch.
- 4 Modules, built on the VIPS framework
- 3 Hours per module, fully interactive
- 12 Hours of dementia education in total
- 182 Participants in the published study
Three Orders of the Day.
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Military Cultural Competence
Improve military cultural competence and cultural humility among healthcare providers.
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Comprehensive Education
Provide comprehensive dementia care education to professional and family care partners.
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Serve People Like VIPS
Serve and support people — including older veterans and veterans with disabilities — like VIPS!
Four Modules. One Framework.
Bravo Zulu contains four 3-hour modules built on the VIPS framework. Each module lights one quadrant of the Zulu flag.
- VValuing
- IIndividuals
- PPerspective
- SSocial
- 1.1 Valuing Personhood
- 1.2 Valuing Relationships
- 1.3 Valuing Culture
- 2.1 Supporting Each Person’s Well-Being
- 2.2 Nurturing Identity and Connectedness
- 2.3 Fostering Security and Autonomy
- 2.4 Promoting Meaning, Growth, and Joy
- 3.1 Critiquing the Biomedical View of Dementia
- 3.2 Supporting Well-Being
- 3.3 Perceiving Different Realities
- 4.1 Understanding How Dementia Affects Communication
- 4.2 Enhancing Communication
- 4.3 Supporting Opportunities for Continued Engagement in Life
Built for Veterans. Good for Every Elder.
Bravo Zulu was originally developed with older veterans and veterans with disabilities in mind. Because it centers dementia and relationship-centered approaches, it can be used to improve the care and support of all elders.
Care partners come to it from every direction — skilled nursing floors, memory care neighborhoods, assisted living, and kitchen tables at home. All of them leave with the same thing: a way to see the person first.
The Results Are Published.
The need for person- and relationship-centered care in Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias is well established. Recognizing the limits of person-centered care in fully honoring the interdependencies between care partners and people living with dementia, Bravo Zulu was developed as a comprehensive 12-hour training aimed at strengthening personhood beliefs and self-efficacy among care partners.
Responses from 182 participants who completed the training were analyzed using paired t-tests. Bravo Zulu produced significant increases in both personhood beliefs and self-efficacy. Healthcare professionals without prior care partner training showed the greatest gains in personhood beliefs, while participants who were not direct care partners showed substantial improvements in self-efficacy.
The findings support tailoring dementia education so that care partners and healthcare professionals can provide culturally competent care aligned with the diverse backgrounds of people living with dementia.
Let’s Get Your Organization to “Bravo Zulu!”
Host an offering for your team
Contact us to learn more about fee-for-service contract opportunities to host an offering of Bravo Zulu for the employees of your organization.
Schedule an OfferingAttend a future offering
Interested in joining an upcoming session as an individual? Let us know and we will keep you posted on the next one.
Email DEERprogram@unr.edu
This program is made possible through funding from the Nevada Department of Veterans Services.
