by Jill Tabbutt-Henry, PHI Curriculum Manager
“I thought it was great!”
“Wonderful sessions, flowed well. I felt very supported in my learning…”
“Appreciated the plain-speaking, direct approach.”
These enthusiastic comments come from a group of staff educators and administrators from home care agencies, disabilities support organizations, and a community college in western Pennsylvania who recently spent three days learning how to use the adult learner-centered approach to provide entry-level training for direct-care workers.
PHI conducted the workshop as part of its continuing field observations of a 77-hour training program, Providing Personal Care Services to Elders and People with Disabilities: A Model Curriculum for Direct-Care Workers, developed for the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry.
Responding to a need for a better trained and integrated eldercare and disability services workforce, PHI developed this competency-based curriculum to meet three major goals:
- To help participants develop the core competencies needed to provide person-directed personal care in a range of long-term care settings;
- To introduce potential workers to all the different settings across the long-term living spectrum; and
- To lay the foundation for further training as nurse assistants and/or home health aides as part of a career lattice for direct-care workers.
The Personal Care Services curriculum can be used in two ways. As a stand-alone curriculum, it can be used to train workers who provide personal care services in people’s homes or in assisted living or other residential facilities. And it can be used as the first level of training to prepare workers for jobs in nursing facilities and home health care agencies.
The adult learner-centered approach, which is integral to the training program, creates a more effective learning environment for direct-care workers, by making the training respectful of the learners, engaging, and empowering.
The training fills an important gap: Many of the people who provide personal care for elders and people with disabilities get no training at all, or at most get a brief fact-based orientation to the requirements of the job. Others sit through training programs that remind them of the bad experiences they had in school, when the teacher talked at them and scolded them for getting bored or distracted, while offering little encouragement that they could learn, nor relevance to their changing lives, nor variety in the way lessons were delivered.
The adult learner-centered approach is based on the belief that adults learn best when:
- They feel respected.
- The learning environment feels safe and supportive.
- The content is relevant to their needs.
- Learning activities are varied to account for different learning styles and challenges.
- Lessons encompass the three learning domains of knowledge, attitudes, and skills.
- Opportunities are provided for practicing skills and applying knowledge in realistic situations.
The ten staff educators who attended this orientation ranged in experience from brand new trainers to those who had been teaching direct-care workers for over 40 years. Each participant found something new and valuable in this approach, with concrete tools that they could apply to their own trainings, as well as the ability to conduct the curriculum that was provided.
The three-day workshop not only oriented participants to the adult learner-centered approach but allowed them to practice presenting a module and to experience the approach as learners.
Kimberly Pirilla-Scalise, executive director of Superior Home Care, noted that “the training offers an employer the chance to form stronger relationships with new hires right from the start.” Those relationships, she believes, are critical to lowering turnover.
The recent educators’ orientation workshop near Pittsburgh was the first in a series that will be offered by PHI throughout Pennsylvania this spring.
For more information on upcoming trainings, contact Pennsylvania State Director Joe Angelelli at jangelleli@phinational.org.
