Eight Lessons Learned While Developing a Health Information Class for Family Caregivers

Approximately 43.5 million adults in the United States provided unpaid care to an adult or child in 2015 [1]. How can librarians reach this enormous population of family caregivers, who deal with complex medical issues daily for both themselves and loved ones?

In the August 2012 issue of the MLA News, Jamie Peacock described the development of the National Library of Medicine (NLM) 4Caregivers project, which aims to deliver relevant online health information to family caregivers through various social media platforms, including Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest [2]. The NLM 4Caregivers project is now developing a live class to teach family caregivers how to access reliable online health information, and a series of pilot classes were taught in Montgomery County, Maryland, from July 2016 to June 2017.

Here are eight important lessons learned during the development of these live classes for family caregivers:

1. Keep it short, but not too short. The first version of the class consisted of three separate thirty-minute classes, but a thirty-minute class didn’t leave much time for questions. Three separate classes also caused lower attendance from one class to the next. A single one-hour class better allows the instructor to cover all topics, while still providing plenty of time for questions, and attendees do not have the burden of needing to attend multiple classes.
2. Promote the class to older adults. Family caregivers are forty-nine years old on average [1], so there is often overlap between family caregiver and older adult populations. The title of the class was changed from “National Library of Medicine Resources for Family Caregivers” to “National Library of Medicine Resources for Family Caregivers and Older Adults” to appeal to both populations.
3. Find the right venue and partners. Most classes were held at senior centers to reach the older adult population or at public libraries due to free access for the public. Promotion of the classes to local organization and associations (like the Alzheimer’s Association) who work with family caregivers and older adults can help to draw more attendees.
4. Use discussions to show why reliable health information is important. Discussions will engage attendees and demonstrate how reliable (or unreliable) health information can impact both their own health and the health of the loved ones for whom they care.
5. Keep the focus on one main resource. The first version of the NLM 4Caregivers class focused on a wide variety of NLM online tools, but teaching about too many tools seemed to lead to information overload for many attendees. The current version of the class focuses mainly on MedlinePlus, because this health information portal from NLM covers a wide variety of topics and is relatively easy to navigate.
6. Provide information on how to find local resources. Attendees frequently asked about how to find local resources for family caregivers and older adults, so a few extra slides were added to the presentation to describe how to find local resources through Eldercare Locator and local Montgomery County government resources.
7. Provide detailed handouts. Color copies of all PowerPoint slides were provided to class attendees, for later reference. All uniform resource locators (URLs) were written out in the slides, and clear images showing how to navigate MedlinePlus were included.
8. Provide training to health care professionals who regularly interact with caregivers. Family caregivers often use trusted health care professionals, like family physicians and nurses, as a primary source of reliable health information. The NLM 4Caregivers project is also developing training materials aimed at health care professionals, so they are aware of consumer health websites like MedlinePlus that can be recommended to family caregivers as a reliable source of online health information.

Family caregivers are often responsible for both their own health and the health of the friends or family members for whom they care. Medical librarians can assist family caregivers with this immense responsibility by showing them where to find the most reliable health information, especially online.

References

1. AARP Public Policy Institute and National Alliance for Caregiving. 2015 report: caregiving in the U.S. [Internet]. The Institute and The Alliance; 2015 Jun [cited 7 Jun 2017]. <http://www.caregiving.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/2015_CaregivingintheUS_Final-Report-June-4_WEB.pdf>.
2. Peacock J. Extending our reach: using social media for outreach to engage family caregivers online. MLA News. 2012 Aug 52(7):1, 3. (Available from: ttp://www.mlanet.org/p/do/sd/topic=215&sid=389>. [cited 7 Jun 2017].)