Individuals from 83 organizations have participated in the workshops
Pennsylvania has been the stage of an exciting training initiative to improve the quality of home- and community-based care. PHI is proud to have been able to participate in a pilot program that prepared in-house staff from local home care agencies, adult day service centers, personal care/assisted living residences, and disabilility service agencies to train direct-care workers in providing relationship-centered care in the state.
P. Afeefa Murray, Patricia Hillebrand, Maureen Sheahan and Maria Elena Del Valle—from PHI’s training and organizational development team—conducted “train-the-trainer” educator workshops, which explored adult learner-centered approaches to leading frontline staff through a competency-based entry-level curriculum for personal care workers developed by PHI for Pennsylvania’s Department of Labor & Industry.
Since April 2008, this PHI team trained 142 individuals from 83 organizations, as part of 11 educator workshops. Training the trainers builds capacity within participating organizations to implement and sustain the training themselves.
Relationship-Centered Caring in the Context of Adult Learner Centered Approaches
In teaching a relationship-centered approach to care, we recognize that by improving communication and problem-solving skills of caregivers, we can build healthier relationships among staff, and between staff and the individuals they assist. These skills build within the participants the competencies necessary to shift away from a task orientation (giving care to people) to a relationship centered orientation (engaging with people to offer care and support).
Using learning circles, small group exercises, role plays, and other interactive activities, the PHI trainers demonstrated methods to connect to a wide variety of learning styles. The trainers that attended the workshops stated they really appreciated the variety of adult learner centered methods they were exposed to.
As an owner from one home care agency recently told us, “Everyone I have talked to within my agency and others have walked away with many new skills and much needed education. This training has been a blessing to many and will be a blessing to many clients. It was extremely informative and [the impact] will last a long time.”
[Download the free, entry-level curriculum]
