Abstract
BackgroundThere is a need to educate a range of professionals in caring for individuals with long-term mental disability who reside within our communities. Empathy alone is insufficient. The Kognus 4-Step Education Program was developed to achieve this goal.MethodThe program consisted of independent courses, including an 18-session basic course on psychiatric disability (on-site or online), advanced courses, and highly specialized training programs (Nidotherapy/Peer Consultation). Experts lectured together with clients with psychiatric disabilities. We first report Swedish reforms in which institutionalized patients were relocated to semi-independent individual households. We then describe the design and implementation of the education program. Approximately 50% of participants who were younger than 36 years old lacked any healthcare education. The participants’ backgrounds, perceptions, participation in the education program, and costs are presented.ResultsBetween 2009 and 2014, 8959 participants attended the Kognus psychiatry courses online or on-site in Stockholm (basic on-site course, n = 2111; online course, n = 4480; advanced courses, n = 2322; highly specialized programs, n = 46). A total of 73% of the participants satisfactorily attended the basic sessions on-site compared with 11% of the online participants. The developers conducted the education program for the first 3 years. Thereafter, another course provider continued the program with other types of participants. The program was perceived to be equally interesting and meaningful to participants with low and high levels of education, demonstrating the generalizability of the program. The quality of the basic and advanced courses was rated as 4.4 and 4.3, respectively, on a 5-point Likert scale.ConclusionsPersonnel without appropriate education who work with people with psychiatric/intellectual disabilities can be educated in large numbers. The Kognus program represents a novel and successful way of training people who have no formal education about some essentials of good mental healthcare. Moreover, the model can be easily implemented elsewhere.
Highlights
There is a need to educate a range of professionals in caring for individuals with long-term mental disability who reside within our communities
A total of 73% of the participants satisfactorily attended the basic sessions on-site compared with 11% of the online participants
Personnel without appropriate education who work with people with psychiatric/intellectual disabilities can be educated in large numbers
Summary
There is a need to educate a range of professionals in caring for individuals with long-term mental disability who reside within our communities. The Kognus 4-Step Education Program was developed to achieve this goal. Assisting people with psychiatric and intellectual disabilities is difficult without adequate knowledge—empathy alone is insufficient. We present an education program that consists of independent courses that are based on a patient-centered approach. This report includes an introduction on the ways in which the care of psychiatric patients in Sweden has Bejerot et al BMC Medical Education (2019) 19:148 developed through a number of reforms over the years. We report why the Kognus education program was introduced and the ways in which it was designed, implemented, and eventually transferred to other educational providers.
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