Office of Palliative Care

Medicine/Health Professions Students

Millennial learners appreciate interactive, mixed media methods of education. We have developed a film, No Roadmap: Caregiver Journeys, and discussion guides for small groups that can be incorporated into a current curriculum or used as a stand-alone curriculum.

This film is a tribute to all the families who travel the caregiving road with no roadmap, but with conviction and love to guide them. The intent of the film is to sensitize future health care providers to the challenges and realities of family caregiving for older loved ones.

It is designed to trigger discussion of home-based elder care to help students consider the family’s perspective on long-term care outside the hospital setting. The film features four different families – the Gippins, the Liles, the Scotts and the Haskinses – who share their personal insights on and experiences of caregiving. All of the families in the film received hospice services at the end of their lives, but their caregiving journeys began years earlier.

Before you screen the film, suggest to students that they see it as an invitation to discuss what concerns or worries them about family caregivers and hospice. Please treat the session as an occasion to explore students’ apprehension and biases about caring for older adults, caregiving, hospice, and dying. Remember that No Roadmap: Caregiver Journeys is a film of many voices, each of them speaking to the caregiving experience. Students may be drawn to one of the voices over the others. There is no single way to use the film; rather, use it as a springboard for discussion. Most importantly, remember that you possess a lot of knowledge and wisdom. You are encouraged to add your voice to those represented in the film.

Contact

Margaret Sanders, M.A., LSW
Email: mbs@neomed.edu

Kathleen Enoch
Email: kenoch@neomed.edu

Building Caregiver Partnerships

This site contains a free compendium of educational tools and resources on issues of family caregiving for health professions faculty, providers and students.

Co-sponsored with Summa Health and funded by the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations.

Office of Palliative Care

Department of Family & Community Medicine