Elearning for health and homelessness

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E-learning for health and homelessness

• Dr Angela Jones
• Specialist Adviser, Housing Strategy and Support
  Directorate, DCLG, London, UK
• Course Director, Postgraduate Certificate Course,
  Department for Continuing Education, University
  of Oxford, UK

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What are the problems?What are we trying to
achieve ?

• Homeless people frequently
• have high level of healthcare needs
• have high levels of social needs
• do not prioritise their health needs
• experience low levels of access to healthcare
  provision
• experience stigmatising behaviour from healthcare
  staff
• may ultimately experience homelessness as
  normative

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What are the problems?What are we trying to
achieve?

• When asked, homeless people in the UK would like
  the following from health services
• equal access to mainstream health services
• access to specialist homeless health services in
  certain situations
• timely access to mental health and addiction
  services
• ABOVE ALL, to be treated in a non-discriminatory
  manner

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What are the problems?What are we trying to
achieve?

• We need to educate the health and social care
  sector in order to achieve
• appropriate attitudes to homeless people
  presenting for health and social care
• appropriate knowledge and skills in the health
  and social care workforce
• appropriate interprofessional working in order to
  manage complex cases
• appropriate support for professionals working in
  this field
• appropriate level of knowledge among
  commissioners of care

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What are the problems?What are we trying to
achieve?

• Who are the potential students?
• Anyone who comes into contact with homeless
  people within their work
• primary care professionals
• mental health professionals
• addiction professionals
• clinical psychologists
• emergency medicine professionals
• social work professionals
• social support staff
• housing professionals
• police and ambulance
• legal / paralegal / probation
• voluntary workers
• also medical / nursing / social work students

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Developing an educational intervention

• First find your institution

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Developing an educational intervention

• Oxford University
• Department for Continuing Education
• Rewley House
• Wellington Square
• Oxford

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Developing an educational intervention

• Then, do a learning needs assessment among the
  potential students
• interviews with various potential student groups
• focus group with homeless patients
• advisory group with representatives of key groups
  in the homelessness sector
• analysis of interview material
• key learning needs elucidated

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Developing an educational intervention

• Then develop your curriculum
• Comes in at various levels and can be said to be
  a spiral curriculum
• For undergraduate clinical students /
  non-clinical students
• Awareness of causes and consequences of
  homelessness
• Awareness of main healthcare issues
• Structure of healthcare provision
• Accessing healthcare provision
• Attitudinal awareness
• For front line non-graduate workers /
  non-homelessness specialists
• The above plus
• More detail on legal and organisational issues
• Inter professional working skills
• Reflective practice
• Local service profile

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Developing an educational intervention

• Curriculum for full certificate
• To have a knowledge of the current literature on
  the causes of homelessness
• To have a knowledge of the current literature on
  the consequences of homelessness.
• To understand the proven modalities for
  addressing homelessness, especially through the
  provision of healthcare to homeless people,
  including an understanding of how the provision
  of healthcare fits into the wider picture of
  addressing the problem of homelessness and social
  exclusion.
• To have the understanding and skills required to
  work across disciplines to provide this
  healthcare.
• To have the understanding and skills required to
  provide and to maintain a sustainable working
  environment in which to provide healthcare to
  homeless people.
• To have the ability to communicate this learning
  to colleagues in the field and other relevant
  groups.
• To have developed and practised learning skills
  which will enable continued independent and
  collaborative acquisition of skills and
  knowledge, with the potential to achieve even
  higher levels of achievement in the future

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The role of e-learning

• Key positives for e-learning in this context
• Fashionable!
• Flexible learning in own time - more cost
  effective
• Enhanced capacity to bring together inter
  professional groups
• Established rules of netiquette
  nonconfrontationally underpin respectful inter
  professional communication
• Extending exposure across different audiences
• Extending exposure across geographical / national
  boundaries
• Possibility of developing collaborative learning
  community
• Ongoing benefits of collaborative learning
  community after course ends

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The role of e-learning

• E-learning applied to various aspects of the
  course
• Online short course
• aimed at front line non-graduate workers /
  non-homelessness specialists
• acts as module one of the six module postgraduate
  certificate course
• 10 weeks
• 10 hours per week
• web based materials
• web based journal
• weekly moderated discussion forum
• some group activities - mostly post and comment
• accredited for 10 CAT points at postgraduate level

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The role of e-learning

• E-learning applied to various aspects of the
  course
• Postgraduate certificate course
• Online discussion forum
• Online learning journal
• Taster resource
• Potential to develop first unit of module 1 into
  an online / web based resource for wider audience
  of all professionals who come into contact with
  homeless people (see next slide)

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What are the problems?What are we trying to
achieve?

• Who are the potential students?
• Anyone who comes into contact with homeless
  people within their work
• primary care professionals
• mental health professionals
• addiction professionals
• clinical psychologists
• emergency medicine professionals
• social work professionals
• social support staff
• housing professionals
• police and ambulance
• legal / paralegal / probation
• voluntary workers
• also medical / nursing / social work students

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Collaborative learning community

• Early e-learning materials
• written distance learning material
• individual students working alone
• do not foster participative learning
• do not foster critical analytical thinking

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Collaborative learning community

• More modern e-learning materials
• Deliberately foster collaborative learning by
• establishing small learning sets who work
  together with a tutor
• learning sets are groups that work together to
• learn
• share resources
• discuss professional practice
• support each other
• NOT compete

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Collaborative learning community

• Other aspects of modern e-learning materials
• Asynchronous discussion boards (forums)
• Synchronous discussion forums (chat)
• Learning journals
• Study planners

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Collaborative learning community

• More challenging!
• Collaborative course work
• Presentation of collaborative course work with
  opportunity to take questions
• Assessment by personal / peer / tutor review
• This is a deliberate attempt to foster shared
  purpose and community and has obvious potential
  benefits to subsequent inter professional
  practice.

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Conclusion

• E-learning has a potential role in educating
  relevant groups about health and homelessness
• There are various models of e-learning that can
  be employed depending on the target group
• The most challenging models can have potentially
  the greatest benefit
• The main barrier to delivery is the economics of
  health and social care provision, the budgets
  allocated to training in the sector and the
  financial landscape in further and higher
  education and training

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Thank youMerciDzie koje

• angela.jones_at_communities.gsi.gov.uk
• angelajones_at_fastmail.to

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