Presentation given by Dr Angela Jones, DCLG, UK, at a FEANTSA conference on "The Right to Health is a Human Right: Ensuring Access to Health for People who are Homeless", 2006

1. 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

2. What are the problems?
What are we trying to achieve ?
What are we trying to achieve ?
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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3. 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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4. What are the problems?
What are we trying to achieve?
What are we trying to achieve?
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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5. What are the problems?
What are we trying to achieve?
What are we trying to achieve?
Who are the potential students? What are we trying to achieve?
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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6. Developing an educational intervention
First find your institution
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7. Developing an educational intervention
Oxford University
Department for Continuing Education
Rewley House
Wellington Square
Oxford
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8. 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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9. 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 9
• Local service profile

10. 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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11. 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 11

12. 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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13. 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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14. What are the problems?
What are we trying to achieve?
What are we trying to achieve?
Who are the potential students? What are we trying to achieve?
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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15. 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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16. 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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17. 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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18. 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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19. 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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20. Thank you
Merci
Dzie koje
Dzie koje
Dzie koje
angela.jones@communities.gsi.gov.uk
angelajones@fastmail.to
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