Course Description:
This course is designed to equip both formal and informal caregivers of individuals with Huntington’s Disease (HD) with the essential knowledge and skills for providing comprehensive care. While each Huntington Academy course focuses on a specific aspect of HD care provision, it’s important to recognize that HD challenges should be approached in a holistic way. As a result, many of the Huntington Academy courses are interconnected, with overlapping content that reinforces a comprehensive approach to care.
This course focuses on the importance of effective communication throughout the stages of HD, emphasizing the need for adaptability, empathy, and collaboration between individuals with HD, informal, and formal caregivers to ensure comfort, dignity, and emotional support, while also addressing key topics like genetic testing, family conversations, and the vital role of support groups for informal caregivers.
Course Objectives:
By the end of this course, participants will be able to:
- Develop effective communication strategies for adapting to the changing abilities of individuals with HD across different stages of the disease.
- Learn techniques for managing communication breakdowns in HD.
- Understand the principles of communication centered on the well-being of the individual with HD.
- Navigate the emotional and practical implications of genetic testing for HD.
- Cultivate skills for effective family communication.
- Explore the importance of support groups for informal caregivers.
- Enhance collaboration between informal and formal caregivers to ensure compassionate and personalized care for individuals with HD.
- Gain insights from personal testimonies of HD informal and formal caregivers to better understand the human impact of HD and effective care strategies.
Questionnaire about Communication Skills:
Before starting the course, we kindly ask you to complete this questionnaire to help us understand how often you engage in different communication behaviors with individuals affected by HD.
The goal is to establish a baseline of your communication skills, which will serve as a reference as you progress through the course on Communication Skills in HD Care.
Questionnaire link:
