Adult Learning Theories In Health And Social Care

In healthcare settings, most education sessions involve adults, therefore, to improve and reinforce a certain practice educators focused and integrated adult learning theories and principles in their educational process. Adult learning theories can be classified into five main groups. These include instrumental learning, self-directed learning, experiential learning, transformational and situated cognition. Since individual learner is the primary focus, Knowles’ andragogy model is one of the self-directed theories which view adults as independent, self-directed learners who are ready to learn, therefore need to know why they should learn, motivated more by internal than external motivations, interested in immediate problem centred approaches

Motivation is another important principle on which adult learning is built. There are two major groups of theories describing motivation, content theories which describe what motivates people and process theories which describe how people are motivated. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is a popular content theory where hierarchy moves from the most basic physiological needs and ending in self-actualization. The importance of a safe educational environment cannot be relayed on the learner progression through the hierarchy of needs as described by Maslow. Thus, the importance of respect as stated previously. Furthermore, an individual may be satisfied and unsatisfied with various needs simultaneously throughout his learning course. Whereas, Clayton Alderfer content theory describes motivation in three needs, first is the existence which is equivalent to Maslow’s safety and physical well-being steps, the second need is relatedness which stresses on interpersonal and social relationships, and finally, growth as defined by the individual desire for personal growth. In contrast, process theories of motivation are based on the idea that certain behaviors are produced by particular