Free diabetes education course for parents and caregivers

The Institute for Population Health (IPH) and the College of Professional and Continuing Education (CPCE) are continuing their partnership in course development for Creighton Lifelong Learning, the University’s online continuing education platform.

Gayla Stoner, PhD, dean of the CPCE, said Creighton was recently approached to develop an educational course to help address a population health issue. There[KS1]  was a need for a pediatric diabetes education program specifically designed for parents and caregivers, particularly those involved in foster care. “Diabetes Essentials for Caregivers,” designed in partnership with the IPH, covers understanding the disease and its effects on the body, blood sugar monitoring, proper nutrition and medication management, including dosages and applications. The intended outcome of the course is decreasing the number of preventable diabetes-related medical emergencies in the home setting.

Since creating this course, Stoner and Scott Shipman, IPH executive director, have begun to discuss additional educational modules they can create to aid parents and caregivers of children with other special medical needs.

“Addressing the educational needs of a specific population that is required to provide at-home care for children with medical issues is in perfect alignment with the purpose of the IPH,” Shipman said. “We are grateful to be able partner with the CPCE to develop and offer courses like the diabetes education to help ensure proper care, safety and well-being of children in the home.”

The IPH and CPCE first worked together to create a course that introduces an approach to problem solving that keeps people’s voices, values and needs at the forefront of every step. That course is “Human-Centered Design” (HCD).

HCD brings diverse perspectives together to identify, brainstorm and iteratively develop solutions to meet a population's needs. In this way, HCD can advance population health and health equity efforts. To build capacity at Creighton and in the communities it serves, the IPH and CPCE partnered with leading HCD national experts to develop a noncredit course that launched last spring on the Lifelong Learning platform. Two cohorts have completed the 10-week course. Another session will open for registration sometime this fall.