Supporting Families and Caregivers (Coursera)

Offered by Stanford University,
Supporting Families and Caregivers (Coursera)

This course takes a deep dive into the challenges families and friends of a patient with serious illness face and how you can care for and support them as a provider, social worker or family friend. Supporting Families and Caregivers especially focuses on the children of a patient with serious illness and their caregiver, and teaches you the best way to empower them to get the support they need. By the end of this course, you will be able to provide critical avenues of support for the people who are instrumental to your patients care, wellbeing and quality of life.

Class Deals by MOOC List - Click here and see Coursera's Active Discounts, Deals, and Promo Codes.

The Stanford University School of Medicine is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians. Visit the FAQs below for important information regarding 1) Date of original release and Termination or expiration date; 2) Accreditation and Credit Designation statements; 3) Disclosure of financial relationships for every person in control of activity content.
Course 4 of 5 in the Palliative Care Always Specialization

What You Will Learn

  • Describe several interventions to help with the emotions and coping of being a family member or caregiver of someone with serious illness.
  • Conduct a basic screen for appropriate adjustment in children.
  • Define caregiver burden and how to screen for it.

Syllabus

WEEK 1
Course Introduction and Overview
Welcome to Transitions in Care from Survivorship to Hospice, the third course in the Palliative Care Always specialization. This course focuses on the major changes that occur during the care continuum and how these changes impact the patient. This module will provide you with information on the course structure and first steps.

WEEK 2
Review of Palliative Care
This module provides a review of the concepts learned in the course Essentials of Palliative Care and a brief summary of the symptoms covered in the Symptom Management in Palliative Care course. Check your knowledge with the ungraded quiz in the next section and review the summary videos, if necessary. Also contained in this module are the Sarah case study videos from Essentials of Palliative Care and Symptom Management in Palliative Care for those who want review her story.

WEEK 3
Survivorship
Survivorship can be different depending on the type of serious illness the patient experiences. Patients define survivorship in a variety of ways – some define themselves as survivors when in remission, while other define survivorship as living each day fully while battling disease.Survivorship is most commonly discussed in the cancer setting as patients can be considered survivors during remission. In this module we will discuss survivorship in an oncology setting and a chronic disease setting such as liver disease.

WEEK 4
Supporting the Caregiver
In this module we discuss the caregiver experience in detail, learn how to screen for caregiver distress and provide advice to support caregivers.

WEEK 5
Final Steps
Congratulations on completing the course content. You have a few more step to complete the course. First review your reflection, next complete a peer-reviewed course project and then take the final exam. We hope you have enjoyed the course and look forward to seeing you in other classes!

Go to Class
MOOC List is learner-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Related Courses

Transgender Medicine for General Medical Providers (Coursera) Coursera
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Transgender Medicine for General Medical Providers (Coursera)

The course is a comprehensive set of didactic lectures surveying fundamentals of transgender medical and surgical treatment. The material is meant to provide the student with core knowledge that is essential for current primary care providers caring for transgender patients. There are 10 modules led by the expert clinical faculty from the pioneering Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery, located within the Mount Sinai Health System and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City.

Oct 5th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Confronting Gender Based Violence: Global Lessons for Healthcare Workers (Coursera) Coursera
Johns Hopkins University

Confronting Gender Based Violence: Global Lessons for Healthcare Workers (Coursera)

This course introduces participants from the healthcare sector to gender based violence (GBV), including global epidemiology of GBV; health outcomes; seminal research; and clinical best practices for GBV prevention, support, and management. A core curriculum is supplemented by lectures that contextualize the content with specific examples and programs from around the world.

Oct 12th 2026
4 Weeks
Voice Disorders: What Patients and Professionals Need to Know (Coursera) Coursera
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Voice Disorders: What Patients and Professionals Need to Know (Coursera)

Knowledge regarding vocal production physiology and management options for voice disorders have experienced rapid growth over the past 40 years. This growth has resulted in a knowledge gap amongst patients and practitioners. Entirely new subspecialties of laryngology under otolaryngology and vocology under speech-language pathology have developed in response to this gap. This MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) is designed to educated patients, allied healthcare providers, vocal trainers/coaches, general medical practitioners and otolaryngologists.

Sep 28th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Health Across the Gender Spectrum (Coursera) Coursera
Stanford University

Health Across the Gender Spectrum (Coursera)

This course offers an intimate, story-based introduction to the experiences of six transgender children and their families. Through illustrated stories and short teaching videos, learners will gain a better understanding of gender identity and the gender spectrum. Stanford physicians, K-12 educators, and transgender faculty members offer practical tips for parents, teachers, healthcare providers and anyone who wants to help create a more gender-expansive environment - one in which all people can live authentically. As a global community of unique individuals, we can begin to build a world that is ready to nurture and love each and every child.

Sep 28th 2026
3 Weeks
Community Awareness Course: Sexuality and Disability (Coursera) Coursera
University of Minnesota

Community Awareness Course: Sexuality and Disability (Coursera)

This community awareness course from the University of Minnesota Program on Human Sexuality will provide you with a solid introduction to human sexuality for those living with disabilities. Often there are assumptions that the disabled or differently abled people are not sexual, do not have sexual needs, or cannot be involved sexually. In this professionally produced one-hour course, you'll learn about the basics of disabilities and human sexuality.

Oct 5th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Engaging in Improving Patient Experience Through Analytics (Coursera) Coursera
Northeastern University

Engaging in Improving Patient Experience Through Analytics (Coursera)

This course is best suited for individuals currently in the healthcare sector, as a provider, payer, or administrator. Individuals pursuing a career change to the healthcare sector may also be interested in this course. This is the second part in a two-part course exploring concepts and topics related to improving the patient experience and reducing pain points in healthcare processes through analytic and decision support frameworks.

Oct 5th 2026
4 Weeks
Understanding Patient Perspectives on Medications (Coursera) Coursera
University of Copenhagen

Understanding Patient Perspectives on Medications (Coursera)

Inappropriate use of medicines harms patients’ health and increases healthcare costs. When healthcare professionals and patients engage together, healthcare can be based on the patient perspective, so the use of medicines is better tailored to each patients’ needs and preferences. The result is a better relationship between patients and healthcare professionals, more appropriate medicines use, improved patients’ outcomes, and reduced healthcare costs. In this course you will learn about the patient perspective on medicines use, and how to explore and apply it in healthcare and health policy.

Sep 21st 2026
4 Weeks
Intro to Improving the Patient Experience Through Analytics (Coursera) Coursera
Northeastern University

Intro to Improving the Patient Experience Through Analytics (Coursera)

This course is best suited for individuals currently in the healthcare sector, as a provider, payer, or administrator. Individuals pursuing a career change to the healthcare sector may also be interested in this course. In this course, you will have an opportunity to explore concepts and topics related to improving the patient experience and reducing pain points in healthcare processes through analytic and decision support frameworks.

Sep 21st 2026
4 Weeks
Lymphoedema: Monitoring & Intervention After Breast Cancer (Coursera) Coursera
Macquarie University

Lymphoedema: Monitoring & Intervention After Breast Cancer (Coursera)

Lymphoedema following breast cancer treatment is a poorly understood and under-researched condition which can significantly impact physical and psychological function, reduce quality of life and result in substantial cost burdens to both patients and the healthcare system. In these interactive modules we will cover an introduction to lymphoedema, lymphatic physiology and anatomy, assessment and treatment, as well as utilise case studies to understand the prospective surveillance and early intervention model of care in breast cancer rehabilitation.

Oct 5th 2026
4 Weeks
Palliative Care Capstone Projects (Coursera) Coursera
University of Colorado System

Palliative Care Capstone Projects (Coursera)

In the Capstone Course you have the opportunity to put what you have been learning about in the Palliative Care Specialization into practice. Our team has created five activities that directly relate to what you have been learning in the course. You will need to talk with someone you know, perhaps a friend or family member, about their experiences living with serious and life limiting illness. You may want to engage several people as you go through the 5 assignments as they each will have unique experiences.

Sep 28th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Manejo del enfermo semicrítico y crítico por COVID-19 (Coursera) Coursera
University of Barcelona

Manejo del enfermo semicrítico y crítico por COVID-19 (Coursera)

Después de realizar este curso serás capaz de conocer los elementos clave del abordaje del paciente crítico y semicrítico por COVID-19, basados en la evidencia científica disponible y que puedan ayudarte en la toma de decisiones clínicas. Curso dirigido a los profesionales de medicina y enfermería, con conocimientos básicos en la atención a pacientes críticos y, que debido a la crisis sanitaria, atienden en las áreas de críticos o semicríticos COVID-19 y/o a estos pacientes fuera de su ubicación habitual.

Oct 5th 2026
5-12 Weeks