A Client-Centered Care Curriculum for Case Managers

Abstract

The purpose of this project is to improve case managers' personal effectiveness with clients, and to foster client-centred care. The project describes the plan for the development, implementation, and evaluation of a client-centred care curriculum for community case managers at the Hamilton-Wentworth Community Care Access Centre (CCAC). Client-centred care is really about how we treat one another, and is supported in the literature. For this project, client-centred care means: honoring personhood, communicating therapeutically, being reflective, setting goals with clients, and therapeutic use of self. The concept of therapeutic use of self is about how one uses oneself to help clients (Whall, 1988). The project describes implementation and evaluation of a therapeutic use of self workshop which is one component of the entire curriculum. The curriculum is guided by principles of adult learning, including self-directed learning, and transformative learning. The guiding theoretical frameworks for this project include: Miller and Seller's (1990) transaction and transformation education positions, the Leithwood-lnnovations Profile For Implementation (as cited in Miller & Seller, 1990), and Patton's (1997) Utilization-Focused Evaluation. Although this project has the potential to make a significant impact on case managers and clients, the curriculum has yet to be tested. Recommendations for use of the curriculum within the CCAC are provided.