Strengths-Based Care Management for Older Adults By Becky Fast, M.S.W., M.P.A., and Rosemary Chapin, Ph.D.

Excerpted from "For the Trainer" from Strengths-Based Care Management for Older Adults by Becky Fast and Rosemary Chapin.

Copyright © 2000 by Health Professions Press, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

For the Trainer

The strengths approach provides techniques and tools to help care managers focus on clients’ strengths and abilities instead of their pathology, illnesses, or problems. Care managers identify clients’ strengths and create situations in which clients can use their abilities to achieve personal goals. The strengths model is grounded in the belief that change can happen only when one collaborates with an individual’s aspirations, perceptions, and strengths.

Care managers’ focusing on older adults’ strengths and capabilities helps clients gain a sense of control over their lives and motivation. Clients are viewed as competent and able to participate in the planning and delivery processes of the care plan. They experience renewed self-confidence and independence as care managers move with them in directions that the clients themselves choose and in areas in which they feel capable and willing. Clients are viewed as experts in defining their own needs, and the role of the care manager changes to reflect a greater appreciation of clients’ expertise.

The strengths perspective “requires us to identify (for ourselves, for others, and for the people with whom we work) the abilities they possess which may not be obvious, even to themselves . . . It is always easier to see what is wrong, and what people lack. Empowering research (and practice) attempts to identify what is right with people, and what resources are already available, so as to encourage their use and expansion.” (Rappaport, 1990, p. 12)

Training Goals and Expectations

Strengths-Based Care Management for Older Adults is designed to increase group participants’ understanding of care management practice, including roles and responsibilities; value components; and specific skill development such as interviewing, assessment, care planning, and client advocacy. As a trainer, it is as important for you to ask the participants what they expect to gain from the training as it is to specify what you hope they will gain. Unless you begin the modules by clarifying the purpose and goals of the training, participants with unmet expectations will become dissatisfied as the training unfolds. Usually, adult learners are more ready to learn when mutual expectations and goals are communicated from the start.

The overall purpose of the training program is to provide direct service providers with information, ideas, affirmation, and opportunities to have fun during the learning process. What do information, ideas, and affirmation mean to trainers in terms of the strengths approach?

• Information — To increase practice knowledge and skills for working with older people from a strengths perspective
  
  
• Ideas — To provide tangible ideas, techniques, and specific tools for meeting the diverse helping needs that confront care managers daily
  
  
• Affirmation — To give care managers a sense of excitement about their work, which reaffirms their purpose, and to help care managers and supervisors reflect on how to enhance their own practice skills and methods

On completion of the training modules, participants are expected to achieve five primary objectives:

1. Articulate a conceptual understanding of strengths-based care management practice
2. Define the core values underlying the strengths model of practice
3. Identify strategies for establishing a successful client–care manager relationship
4. Demonstrate the application of selected strengths-based care management skills (e.g., engagement, strengths assessment, goal planning) to an older adult client seeking social services
5. Describe effective advocacy and resource acquisition strategies for working collaboratively with community agencies and informal supports

Using this Training Manual

This extremely flexible manual can be used in a variety of courses and with different training formats and styles. The learning units can be used as a complete training program or each unit can be used individually to enliven classroom discussions, in-services, and continuing education workshops.

The manual is divided into five modules, and each module is divided into several “learning units.” Each module contains an introduction that provides background information for the subsequent learning activities. Each learning unit includes: 1) a statement of purpose that delineates what you should teach and what should be mastered by the participants, 2) the approximate amount of time that is required to complete the exercise, 3) instructions to guide you in developing and presenting the unit, and 4) learning activities. The learning activities include presenter’s points, discussion guides, and exercises that apply the concepts that are presented.

Module 1 explores the values and beliefs that guide and direct the delivery of strengths-based care management practice. Group exercises facilitate the application of strengths principles to actual practice.

Module 2 paints a picture of effective helping partnerships and the engagement process. Strategies for developing trust and rapport to ensure a successful client–care manager relationship are outlined.

Module 3 presents an alternative to the traditional long-term care functional assessment process. The essential components of a strengths assessment process are introduced and demonstrated by using the strengths inventory tool. Small-group activities help participants to use strengths-based assessment techniques.

Module 4 segues from identifying hidden strengths and resources to helping clients use their strengths in creating goal plans. Training focuses on the importance of setting goals, creating standards for effective goal planning, and establishing methods to ensure successful goal completion. The personal goal planning tool is presented, and participants practice using the tool in pairs (dyads). Participants are asked to develop a personal goal plan with a partner based on the information that is given to them.

Module 5 concludes the training program with activities and information on advocacy methods and strategies for influencing informal and formal providers to be more responsive to the needs of older adults. Ideas for effectively identifying and recruiting informal helpers are provided. Approaches for developing and building naturally occurring helping networks and creating new community resources are explored through case examples.