Learning to deliver LGBT+ aged care : exploring and documenting best practices in professional and vocational education through the World Café method

Hafford-Letchfield, Trish (author), Pezzella, Alfonso (author), Connell, Sandra (author), Urek, Mojca (author), Jurček, Anže (author), Higgins, Agnes (author), Keogh, Brian (author), Vaart, Nina van der (author), Rabelink, Irma (author), Robotham, George (author), Bus, Elisa (author), Buitenkamp, Charlotte (author), Lewis-Brooke, Sarah (author)

Substantial evidence on the adverse impact of ageing on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT+) populations through the lack of inclusive care services has highlighted the need for education and training of the health and social care workforce to enhance their skills, knowledge and capabilities in this area. We describe a cross-national collaboration across four European Union countries called BEING ME. This collaboration examined the current pedagogic environment within professional, vocational and community-based education to identify what is most valuable for addressing these needs. The World Café method enabled a process of structured learning and knowledge exchange between stakeholders resulting in: (a) identification of best practices in pedagogies, (b) generation of tailored co-produced educational resources, and (c) recommendations on how to improve the knowledge and capabilities of future care professionals in the area of LGBT+ affirmative practices. Combined with themes from the post-Café evaluation, our findings suggest that underpinning professional and vocational education with a person-in-environment perspective facilitates going some way to acknowledging the historical context of older LGBT+ people’s lives. Addressing the unique needs of sub-populations within LGBT+ communities and setting these in the context of holistic and person-centred care may better enable the meeting of their unique diverse needs for ageing. Recommendations are made for learning and teaching strategies to support improved LGBT+ aged care.

• Language: English
• Keywords: LGBT+, ageing, education, health care, social care, best practices, World Café, co-production, BEING ME, European Union
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FSD - Faculty of Social Work
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2023
• Number of pages: Str. 105-126
• Numbering: Vol. 43, iss. 1
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-152357
• UDC: 364.4-053.9
• ISSN on article: 0144-686X
• DOI: 10.1017/S0144686X21000441
• COBISS.SI-ID: 61380611
• Publication date in RUL: 22.11.2023

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Ageing and society
• Shortened title: Ageing soc.
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• ISSN: 0144-686X
• COBISS.SI-ID: 24906752

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: staranje, izobraževanje, zdravstvo, socialna oskrba, dobre prakse, koprodukcija, Evropska unija

Projects

• Funder: EC - European Commission
• Funding programme: Erasmus, KA2 /KA202-Cooperation
• Name: Innovation and the exchange of good practices and strategic partnerships for vocational education and training