UNE offers new End-of-Life Doula program to care for individuals experiencing terminal illness
The University of New England Online is now offering continuing education programs across a wide array of fields, including a unique End-of-Life Doula course.
The End-of-Life Doula program is an eight-week, fully online course designed to provide participants with the skills associated with the delivery of compassionate, informed, and supportive care for individuals and their families who are experiencing terminal illness or are nearing end of life.
UNE’s End-of-Life Doula curriculum is designed to be accessible to people with a wide range of experience, educational backgrounds, and interests. It is based on an interprofessional model that reflects a collaborative approach between the end-of-life doulas and other members of a care team, including medical, spiritual, and psychosocial professionals.
“Our goal is to help the doula gain an understanding of the various disciplines involved in end-of-life care,” said Rebecca Diggins, M.S.W., L.M.S.W., and assistant clinical professor who designed the course with a team of clinical experts. “With what they learn through this curriculum, doulas have an opportunity to be impactful across multiple dimensions of the end-of-life journey.”
Valerie Jones, M.S.W., L.M.S.W., and associate clinical professor who collaborated with Diggins to develop the program, notes that the program is appropriate for and beneficial to a wide range of individuals. “Some people participate to feel better prepared to support their own family members who are dying. Social workers and others working in hospice and palliative care may take the course to add a specialty or augment their skills. And some who take our course are interested in becoming professional end-of-life doulas,” Jones said, noting that the UNE program does not give business advice.
The course includes eight modules, covering topics such as grief through the lifespan; communication skills for talking with families, care providers, and the dying person; planning for end-of-life; medical perspectives; caregiving boundaries and professional self-care; spirituality; and ideas for practical support. Paul Segal, D.O., internal medicine doctor and assistant professor of Primary Care at UNE, leads the medical perspectives module and acknowledges that being comfortable preparing people for end-of-life is an important part of his role.
“End-of-life care is active care. It requires empathy and even humor. I work with medical students to teach them how to get comfortable around this,” said Segal. “There is such a thing as a ‘good death,’ and the doula program is so important because the doula can be an important link between the patient, family, and care providers to help achieve a good death.”
Beth Taylor-Nolan, dean of UNE Online, said, “Our continuing education programs and courses are designed to help individuals acquire professional expertise, stay current with industry trends, and expand their career prospects. Others may be interested in exploring a new area of interest or engaging in lifelong learning experiences.”