Jack Kirsten
An educational initiative to support the development of communities of practice in older people’s care home settings
Kirsten, Jack; Jones, Louise; Hamshire, Claire
Authors
Louise Jones
Claire Hamshire
Abstract
Background: It is predicted that care home provision for older people will need to increase significantly over the next 30 years, requiring a skilled workforce that expands to meet this growing need. Innovative practice development strategies are required to support the existing workforce and provide incentives to help recruit new staff.
Aim: This article aims to explore the use of the peer-assisted learning model to support the development of communities of practice in care home settings in an area of England.
Method: Care home teams were invited to university-based workshops and their experiences of using peer-assisted learning were elicited through narrative telephone interviews undertaken with care home managers.
Findings: Three overarching themes were identified relating to practice development: context, process and impact. Through peer-assisted learning, staff were empowered to share their expertise and knowledge with colleagues, resulting in enhanced communication, respect and person-centred resident care. Managers viewed peer-assisted learning as a sustainable, low-cost investment in staff development.
Conclusion: This article contributes to practice development by presenting reflections on an innovative initiative to facilitate the use of peer-assisted learning in educational practices in the care home workforce. Combining the philosophies of community of practice and peer-assisted learning provides a model that can foster practice development in the care home setting. Further, this work can support the development of communities of practice that operate across care homes on a national/international basis.
Implications for practice:
This article describes a sustainable practice development model that can be used in the care home setting
Grounding practice development in the philosophies of peer support and communities of practice can promote a climate of mutual respect and enhanced communication
Improved communication and sharing of expertise within care home teams offers the potential for improved resident-centred care provision
Journal Article Type | Article |
---|---|
Acceptance Date | May 3, 2021 |
Online Publication Date | May 19, 2021 |
Publication Date | May 3, 2021 |
Deposit Date | May 29, 2024 |
Publicly Available Date | Jun 3, 2024 |
Journal | International Practice Development Journal |
Electronic ISSN | 2046-9292 |
Peer Reviewed | Peer Reviewed |
Volume | 11 |
Issue | 1 |
Pages | 1-12 |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.19043/ipdj.111.007 |
Keywords | Earth-Surface Processes |
Files
Published Version
(603 Kb)
PDF
Publisher Licence URL
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/
You might also like
What is the Role of Trust in Peer Support Schemes for Underrepresented Students?
(2025)
Journal Article
Designing an ecosystem to promote the development of key student competencies required in the future of work
(2024)
Presentation / Conference
Embedding quality processes within the institutional ecosystem to support learning for the future
(2024)
Presentation / Conference
Designing educational ecosystems – insights to promote collaborative knowledge creation and enable student outcomes
(2024)
Presentation / Conference