Family Caregivers as Lay Trainers

Abstract

This article describes an initiative to train lay people, predominantly parents of children and youth with special health care needs (CYSHCN), to teach Bridge to Independence—a care coordination curriculum—to other family caregivers of CYSHCN. Using a model based on Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick’s levels of evaluation, the goal was to discover how well lay people liked the process of learning how to teach, the extent to which these Lay Trainers gained knowledge and skills from the training sessions, and what changes in Lay Trainer caregiving application resulted from the learning process. The Bridge to Independence curriculum design is based on self-directed learning principles and served as the framework for Lay Trainer learning. This article presents the study’s methodology, findings, and discussion, and adult education practice implications. Two themes emerged from this evaluation study: Lay Trainer perceptions of learning the curriculum and the relationship between life experience and learning. The study provides implications for two aspects of adult education practice: training the trainer and adult learning.