Person Centred Universe: Online Learning

Session 1: Recognizing Dementia - Session 1 begins with a review of the objectives and structure of the course, and the expectations of learners. This includes the Learner Assessment Strategy, Project Options, and the Evaluation Plan. The session content outlines how demographic changes are having an impact on dementia care, and provides an introduction to dementia and its impact on cognition. You are introduced to the important role the course plays in equipping you to support people living with dementia.

Session 2: The Person Comes First - This session will focus on the foundational principle and philosophy of the course: the person (not the disease) comes first. The session will define and contrast person-centred care and person-directed care approaches; both involve an understanding that persons living with dementia are persons who have a story, preferences, values, and interests. The session will emphasize the complexity of dementia, the range of capabilities people with dementia have, and the importance of choice. The session will emphasize that care happens within a context of relationships.

Session 3: Supportive Care (Part 1) - This session emphasizes your role in encouraging the engagement of persons living with dementia in meaningful interactions, whether through activities of daily living, leisure and recreation activities, or meaningful relationships. A shift from a task-oriented understanding of need fulfillment to engagement in activities that support a positive self-identity is central to this session.

Session 4: Supportive Care (Part 2) - This session continues to highlight your role in providing a supportive care approach, focusing on the capabilities and preferences of the person.

Session 5: Supporting Other Partners in Care - This session will highlight individuals who share a meaningful relationship and connection to the person living with dementia. These individuals may be family or friends. They are considered partners in the care of the person living with dementia; they have an essential role in providing care and support throughout the dementia journey.

Session 6: All Behaviour Has Meaning - This session will emphasize that all behaviour has meaning and reveals underlying needs or impairments. Approaching situations with this understanding in mind can help care providers make sense of and respond appropriately to behaviours that can occur when supporting persons living with dementia.

Session 7: Planning for Care - In this session, you will have an opportunity to apply your learning through care planning. The session will highlight the importance and purpose of care planning and will link it with tools used to identify and track needs and behaviours, as discussed in Session 6. The session will demonstrate how care planning is used to provide holistic, person-centred care for persons living with dementia.

Session 8: Me, Myself, and the Team - This session will focus on you as the care provider and your position and role within a care team. It identifies barriers to implementation of the knowledge you have learned through this course. These barriers are related to the cultures that exist in care facilities and community settings. Many care settings are task-focused instead of person-centred. This session revisits the importance of building relationships with persons living with dementia as one of the strategies that will enable you to implement a person-centred approach.

Session 9: Wrap Up, Presentations and Evaluation - This session provides an opportunity to revisit or address any topic or material that needs further clarification or discussion, if time allows. This session also allows time for you and others to present final projects to the class. In addition, during this final session, you will complete a course evaluation.