Responding to the Increasing Demand for Long-term Services and Supports through Core Competency Direct Care Worker Training

As part of the breakout session panel discussion entitled UMass Lowell Gerontology Community-Engaged Research Panel, this presentation discusses developing and implementing training for home health care aides

Improving the Direct Care Workforce through Core Competency Training

This report provides a comprehensive overview of the MA Personal and Home Care Aide State Training (PHCAST) Grant Project funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, Bureau of Health Professions, Division of Nursing. The grant aimed to improve existing training for home care aides, offer training for personal care attendants, increase transferability of the workforce, and reduce turnover. The state also sought to standardize core competencies and training facilitation for direct care workers who provide long-term care in community‐based settings for diverse populations. The accomplishments of the grant project include successfully training 882 direct care workers, developing, piloting and evaluating a 60-hour, 13-module core competency curriculum, producing nine training videos, training 178 instructors in the adult-centered learning approach and curriculum, creating supplemental training materials and delivery options for bilingual students, and launching a direct care worker website

Meeting Massachusetts\u27 Growing Demand for Home and Community-Based Supports

This presentation provides an overview of the innovative approaches and lessons learned from the Massachusetts Personal and Home Care Aide State Training (PHCAST) grant, a project managed by UMass Medical School for the Executive Office of Health and Human Services. PHCAST defined core competencies for direct care workers, and developed a standardized training in those competencie

Determination of Massachusetts’ respite policies and the potential impact of unpaid family care giver support on home and community based services

Direct care workforce shortages, increasing health care costs, and limited access to services force many families to make life-changing decisions to care for family members with long term disabilities or who are chronically ill at home. For this project, the authors conducted an environmental scan of current policies and programs for state and federally funded respite services across Massachusetts’ state agencies. The results of this project demonstrate the variability in Massachusetts’ state policies and program practices in four primary areas: The types of respite services offered by state agencies The agencies definition of respite services Variability in the ability of families to access services The methods employed to track the delivery and outcomes of services This study concludes with recommendations to enhance the delivery of respite as an integral part of long-term services and supports in Massachusetts

Joining the Fight Against the Opioid Epidemic through the Head Start Program in Lowell, MA

What is Head Start? Head Start, a federally funded program of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, promotes school readiness and family well-being in children from birth to age five who meet specific criteria. Lowell Head Start Partnership The Lowell Head Start program is engaged in efforts to combat the opioid epidemic after an incident involving an overdose by a parent in the center. To support the Lowell Head Start program, our team forged collaborations with facilities close to Head Start in Lowell by creating informational pamphlets that detail services offered to people with substance use disorders in Lowell. Opioid trends in Lowell Lowell is a very diverse city, with 40% of the population being non-white and 25% being foreign born. Lowell has a highest poverty rate at 19.1%, in the region, a low median household income at $49,164, and a high rate of unemployment according to the 2016 greater Lowell community health needs assessment (CHNA). Opioid overdose death rate in Lowell is 43 fatalities per 100,000 – a rate greater than double the average fatality rate in the state of Massachusetts. Quick overview of project To capitalize on the statewide and local efforts to bring opioid addition out in the open, the presenters created an informational pamphlet as a resource and educational tool for families that seek or are referred for services. Description of many relevant provisional services are expanded upon in the capstone project submission – including detox, hotline and support services, medication management, behavioral health, counseling and relapse tools training. Additionally, the presenters actively forged connections with local community organizations serving those struggling with opioid use disorder. Please see capstone document for additional information regarding specific resources. Conclusions With the significant rise in fatal overdoses in the city of Lowell, many departments and programs have been developed to combat the opioid epidemic. This project aims to provide vital information to the Head Start Program and the families they serve, and to provide established resources available in Lowell, such as medication disposals, Narcan and signs of overdose training, needle drop-off services, available hotlines, and city-wide programs, including Lowell Community Opioid Outreach Programs, MA Opioid Abuse and Prevention Collaborative of Greater Lowell, and Partnerships for Success Program.https://escholarship.umassmed.edu/capstones/1011/thumbnail.jp

Intensive Work-Integrated Learning (WIL): The benefits and challenges of condensed and compressed WIL experiences

Work-integrated learning (WIL) is a well-established educational strategy with acknowledged benefits for student learning and employability. This paper explores and documents Intensive WIL, where students undertake short or condensed WIL experiences, ranging from 35 to 400 hours. Four case studies from different universities, designed for different purposes, using either placement or project approaches, and with different student cohorts, showcase the flexibility and adaptability of this model of WIL. Drawing on existing quality frameworks developed for WIL, a new, dedicated set of quality indicators was developed to evaluate examples of intensive WIL, as demonstrated in the case studies. This new framework places greater emphasis on the WIL experience itself, which has had little previous attention. The study confirms that given the right conditions, and used for the right purposes, Intensive WIL delivers quality experiences for students. Unique challenges of Intensive WIL include: sourcing projects with appropriate scope and complexity that are achievable and from which students will learn; ensuring students have command of previous theoretical concepts, as there may be little time to get them up to speed during Intensive WIL; ensuring all stakeholders understand their roles and responsibilities for smooth operation; and effective communication between workplace and university staff, as there is less time to recover from any difficult situations that may arise

Reprogramming of CTLs into natural killer–like cells in celiac disease

Celiac disease is an intestinal inflammatory disorder induced by dietary gluten in genetically susceptible individuals. The mechanisms underlying the massive expansion of interferon γ–producing intraepithelial cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) and the destruction of the epithelial cells lining the small intestine of celiac patients have remained elusive. We report massive oligoclonal expansions of intraepithelial CTLs that exhibit a profound genetic reprogramming of natural killer (NK) functions. These CTLs aberrantly expressed cytolytic NK lineage receptors, such as NKG2C, NKp44, and NKp46, which associate with adaptor molecules bearing immunoreceptor tyrosine-based activation motifs and induce ZAP-70 phosphorylation, cytokine secretion, and proliferation independently of T cell receptor signaling. This NK transformation of CTLs may underlie both the self-perpetuating, gluten-independent tissue damage and the uncontrolled CTL expansion leading to malignant lymphomas in severe forms of celiac disease. Because similar changes were detected in a subset of CTLs from cytomegalovirus-seropositive patients, we suggest that a stepwise transformation of CTLs into NK-like cells may underlie immunopathology in various chronic infectious and inflammatory diseases

‘\u27Workplace’ or Workforce: What Are We Preparing Students For?

This Position Paper explores some of the assumptions that underpin the dependence on physical WIL placements. The authors focus on the fundamental question of what exactly we are preparing students for – is it the workplace, or should we think more broadly about preparing students for the workforce? This raises other questions around the necessity of students undertaking placements in a physical workplace to learn what they need, as well as analysing what aspects of work trigger learning. Workplaces in many organisations are quite different to those of a decade ago, requiring different skills of their workers, and for some, there is no single physical workplace at all. Preparing students for this new paradigm requires us to rethink what kind of WIL experience will be most efficacious and potentially opens space for consideration of other options such as virtual WIL, project-based WIL, studio learning, and student designed start-ups. It is hoped that our thoughts and recommendations might challenge how academics and practitioners currently think about and deliver WIL, with a view to advancing new approaches to non-placement WIL

Projects of Consequence: Interdisciplinary WIL Projects Designed to Meet the Needs of Partners and Students

The focus of this paper is the design and development of an innovative project-based work-integrated learning (WIL) course that enables undergraduate students from all faculties to work in interdisciplinary teams with partner organisations from the public, private, and community sectors. Projects are co-designed with partners interested in students from multiple disciplines bringing insights to problems that might not otherwise be resourced by their organisation. These ‘projects of consequence’ are unstructured, ambiguous and complex, requiring student teams to synthesise their different disciplinary knowledge. Student learning is supported by course curriculum design that includes proven pedagogical practices such as: ongoing feedback from partners; students working in autonomous small teams; academic supervision of teamwork; learning support before and during project work; debriefing; providing a safe, supportive space to experiment with new ideas, embracing the prospect of failure and to develop resilience; all underpinned by reflection so as to process, understand and integrate students’ experiences. The versatility of the course design was demonstrated by the rapid change from face-to-face delivery to an entirely online learning environment in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The challenges and adaptations include changes to the way student teams worked, the additional support needed by students, and adjustment in the mode of interactions with partners

Work-integrated learning and the 'inclusive' challenge of preparing a diverse student cohort for the world beyond the academy

Universities are making increasing use of work-integrated learning (WIL) to meet the demands of government and industry for more and better educated graduates. More recently concerns regarding inclusive practice in WIL have been raised, with questions asked as to whether all students can access and successfully participate in this type of learning. This paper presents findings from a study in one Australian university, which sought to better understand which students are potentially disadvantaged by the placement model of WIL, how disadvantage is experienced by the involved stakeholders (students, host supervisors, academics and professional staff), and what can be done to enable better access and participation in WIL. Findings reveal a variety of multifaceted, and often 'invisible', student-centered factors which have significant influence over which students are at risk in terms of exclusion from placements, and how the experience of access and equity manifests itself for each of the stakeholders. The study suggests a range of strategies utilised by stakeholders to address the challenge of finding a placement for all students, and also draws attention to the 'wicked problems' which further complicate issues of access and equity in WIL.11 page(s