The primary aim of this innovative psycho-oncology educational initiative is to improve the delivery of palliative care by chaplains, psychologists and social workers through an intensive advocacy training program. Competitively selected participants will receive more than 30 hours of didactic and experiential transdisciplinary education to improve their end-of-life knowledge, team skills and leadership abilities. These key advocates will be provided with strategies to empower them to become more effective role models and advocates for enhanced palliative, end-of-life and bereavement care within their institutions and disciplines. Four annual courses (75 participants/year, for a total N = 300) will be followed by a conference in year 5 that reunites the participants and faculty to reinforce change efforts, share lessons learned, and disseminate findings. Extensive process and outcome evaluation strategies will be used to measure the effectiveness of this training. Measurement instruments will include: pre-course, course and post-course evaluations, institutional survey assessments and process recordings. This educational evaluation program will directly impact public health through the training of key psycho- oncology mental health providers. The majority of those needing palliative or end-of-life psychosocial- spiritual support services will interface with the three disciplines targeted by this innovative initiative.
Specific Aims to be accomplished through this important advocacy education project are: 1. Develop a transdisciplinary palliative care curriculum and advocacy-skills training for the psycho- oncology disciplines of chaplaincy, psychology and social work. 2. Implement the curriculum through four training courses and a follow-up reunion conference. 3. Evaluate the impact of this training by measuring the process and the outcomes of the educational activities and advocacy efforts initiated by the participants. 4. Disseminate the findings through peer-reviewed publications, various palliative care organizations and each discipline's professional networks.
| Otis-Green, Shirley; Yang, Eunice; Lynne, Lisa (2013) ACE Project--advocating for clinical excellence: creating change in the delivery of palliative care. Omega (Westport) 67:5-19 |
| Otis-Green, Shirley; Ferrell, Betty; Spolum, Maren et al. (2009) An overview of the ACE Project-advocating for clinical excellence: transdisciplinary palliative care education. J Cancer Educ 24:120-6 |
| Szekely, L; Jin, P; Jiang, W Q et al. (1993) Position-dependent nuclear accumulation of the retinoblastoma (RB) protein during in vitro myogenesis. J Cell Physiol 155:313-22 |
