“Engagement is often viewed as synonymous with involvement. Involvement in services is important, but real engagement goes beyond that. Families can be involved and compliant without being engaged. Engagement is motivating and empowering families to recognize their own needs, strengths and resources and to take an active role in changing things for the better. Engagement is what keeps families working in the sometimes slow process of positive change” –Sue Steib (2004).
Compassionate Connections with Families or Caregivers
Bringing It All Together Through My Hands — An activity to summarize compassion and self-compassion found in the document to distribute in the information section of the toolkit
Staff Circle Agenda, Section Twelve
Responding to Challenging Interactions with Families – handout and possible role-play activity
Communicating Difficult News to Clients and Their Families
Stages of Change Applied to Family Conversations
Adopting a Strengths-Based Approach
You can find all documents in this section included in this pdf for easy printing.
The documents included are numbered individually, not as one document.
Leadership Considerations specific to Community Engagement – Youtube
How do you engage families, caregivers, and community members in this work? Hear how this leader stresses the importance of involving everyone in this work by having conversations and engaging those to keep their compassion resilience as a priority.
Family members often become caregivers outside of the health care setting, and offering support is essential. The Schwartz Center offers various links to resources to help family caregivers.
The article “Few hospitals dedicate space for family caregivers, but that could change” discusses supporting family caregivers through dedicated spaces and other resources, and the importance of family caregiver well-being on client well-being.
The core concepts of Patient- and Family-Centered Care are used widely in efforts to better engage families in the delivery of care. To learn more about incorporating such an approach into your work in order to better engage with families consider visiting the Institute for Patient- and Family-Centered Care website.