No parent wants to hear the words ‘you have cancer’ but unfortunately, one in two people in the UK will develop cancer at some point in their lives, including many of a parenting age.
When a parent has cancer, it affects the whole family, especially the children. Parents’ key concern at diagnosis is ‘how do I tell my children?’ Parents want support and advice from healthcare professionals (HCPs) on what is the best way to tell their children they have cancer. HCPs often lack confidence and training in this important aspect of care.
To equip HCPs with the necessary tools and strategies, Ulster University (UU) in partnership with Cancer Focus Northern Ireland and South Eastern Health and Social Care (SEHSCT) have developed an engaging elearning resource, which is freely available. This resource supports HCPs to empower parents on when, how, where and what to tell their children.
“The elearning module is an output from a number of research studies. We used a person-based approach, seeking regular feedback from staff and parents. Our research team could see that an online, freely available modern approach to training would increase its availability and accessibility for frontline staff”
Dr Cherith Semple
The content of this e-learning module was developed and written by an expert group, namely Dr C Semple, Macmillan Head & Neck CNS / Honorary Research Fellow, SEHSCT /UU; Prof E McCaughan, Prof in Cancer Care, UU and Ms R Smith, Family Service Co-ordinator, Cancer Focus NI, alongside parents with cancer and HCPs. The storyboard was produced by Designed for Learning. It was brought to life in a fully responsive mobile phone friendly elearning module by Juvo Learning Solutions, using Evolve from Appitierre as their authoring tool and produced by Synergy Learning.
This high-quality e-learning module features video scenarios and a step-by-step framework to help HCPs have these important conversations. Children’s drawings are central and used to highlight their viewpoint.
“The advice provided and presentation of the content is excellent. The illustrations and interactive elements made the e-learning engaging, thought provoking and it will certainly be useful in clinical practice.”
User feedback from an HCP.
See for yourself at http://training.cancerfocusni.org
A collaborative project by:
