Person-centered care training for CNAs and caregivers

For CNAs, caregivers, DSPs and home health aides: build daily care around each person's history, choices and goals, within your scope.

For: CNAs, caregivers, direct support professionals (DSPs) and home health aides

  • 2 contact hours
  • 8 modules
  • 9 interactives
  • 4 job aids
  • Updated October 11, 2026

What you will be able to do

  • Explain what person-centered care means and identify its core values: dignity, respect, choice, independence and privacy.
  • Gather and use a person's history, preferences, culture and faith to individualize daily care.
  • Describe how person-centered care planning works under 42 CFR 483.10(c)(2) and 483.21 and in HCBS settings under 42 CFR 441.301(c), including your role.
  • Support choice, dignity of risk and independence within your scope, and escalate choices that raise safety concerns.
  • Communicate in ways the person understands, use qualified interpreters as Section 1557 requires, and involve families and representatives appropriately.
  • Document preferences, choices and changes in the person's own terms and report changes in condition and rights concerns.

Learn what person-centered care means in practice and how to use a person's life history, preferences, culture and faith in everyday care. You will see how person-centered care planning works in nursing homes under 42 CFR 483.21 and in Medicaid home and community-based services under the HCBS Settings Rule, and practice supporting choice, dignity of risk and independence.

Written for nurse aides, caregivers, direct support professionals and home health aides in nursing homes, assisted living, group homes and private homes. Each module separates what frontline staff do from what nurses, therapists and case managers decide.

Person-centered care is not a slogan; it is required language in federal rules and the heart of good care. This course gives you realistic U.S. scenarios, scripts for family conversations, language access basics under Section 1557, and job aids you can use on your next shift.

What you’ll be able to do Monday morning

  1. Offer at least two real choices in every care task.
  2. Learn three new things about one person's life and share them with the nurse.
  3. Use setup and cues before hands-on help, so people do what they can.
  4. Request a qualified interpreter instead of relying on family or children.
  5. Replace labels like "wanderer" or "feeder" with descriptions in the person's terms.

Curriculum

8 modules · 24 lessons · about 2 contact hours

01What does person-centered care really mean?Free preview14 min
  1. From tasks to people
  2. The core values: dignity, respect, choice, independence and privacy
  3. Your role, within scope
  • Sort activity: Person-centered or task-centered?

Diagram · In practice checklist · 2-question knowledge check

02How do you get to know the person?14 min
  1. Why life history matters
  2. How to gather a person's story respectfully
  3. Turning knowledge into everyday care
  • Spot the issue: Spot the problems in a one-page profile

Diagram · In practice checklist · 2-question knowledge check

03How does person-centered care planning work in nursing homes?15 min
  1. Baseline and comprehensive care plans
  2. Who is on the team, including the resident and the nurse aide?
  3. How aides contribute to the plan
  • Spot the issue: Spot task-centered wording in a care plan

Diagram · In practice checklist · 2-question knowledge check

04What does person-centered planning look like in home and community settings?13 min
  1. The HCBS Settings Rule and person-centered planning
  2. What the settings themselves must offer
  3. Ruthie's plan, rewritten
  • Branching scenario: Ruthie's Saturday choice

Diagram · In practice checklist · 2-question knowledge check

05How do you support choice and dignity of risk?14 min
  1. What is dignity of risk?
  2. A practical approach to risky choices
  3. Everyday choices you can offer
  • Decision tree: A choice worries you: what now?

Diagram · In practice checklist · 2-question knowledge check

06How do you promote independence and build on strengths?13 min
  1. Why "doing for" can harm
  2. Practical ways to support independence
  3. Working with families on independence
  • Matching activity: Doing with, not for

Diagram · In practice checklist · 2-question knowledge check

07How do communication, language access and family involvement fit in?14 min
  1. Communicating in a person-centered way
  2. Language access under Section 1557
  3. Involving families and representatives the right way
  • SBAR builder: SBAR: a change in someone you know well

Diagram · In practice checklist · 2-question knowledge check

08What does culture change look like, and how do you document and escalate?13 min
  1. Culture change in long-term care
  2. Documenting person-centered care
  3. When to escalate
  • Spot the issue: Spot the problems in a shift note
  • Self-assessment: How person-centered is my care?

Diagram · In practice checklist · 2-question knowledge check

Final assessment: 23 questions, 80% to pass, then your certificate

Try it now, no account needed

Ruthie's Saturday choice

A branching scenario from this course. Your choices are not saved.

Free sample activity

Ruthie's Saturday choice

You are Jabari Ostler, a direct support professional at a group home in Lawrence, Kansas. Ruthie Pirtle, 34, wants to take the city bus alone to her sister's apartment on Saturday. Her plan includes bus training with you, and she has done the route with you four times.

Inside the course

Practice activities

  • Sort activity1
  • Spot the issue3
  • Branching scenario1
  • Decision tree1
  • Matching activity1
  • SBAR builder1
  • Self-assessment1

Job aids you keep

  • Person-Centered Care ChecklistChecklist
  • SBAR and Stop-and-Watch Template: Person-Centered ReportingTemplate
  • Person-Centered Care Reflection WorksheetWorksheet
  • In-Service Sign-Off Record: Person-Centered CareLog

Credit and approval status

Certificate of completion

This course awards a certificate of completion for 2 contact hours of instruction. It is not approved or accredited by any board of nursing, nurse aide registry, state agency, administrator licensing board or continuing education accreditor. Employers decide how to use it in in-service or orientation programs, and some states set their own training rules for aides, caregivers and direct support staff. Check with your employer, board or state agency whether this course meets your specific requirement.

Pathways we may pursue include review by state agencies that accept nurse aide in-service content, nursing continuing professional development accreditation, and long-term care administrator continuing education review. None of these approvals exists today; the course page will show an approval only after it is granted.

Our full approvals list

Questions about this course

Does this course count toward continuing education or in-service hours?

This course awards a certificate of completion for 2 contact hours of instruction. It is not approved or accredited by any board, registry or continuing education accreditor today. Many employers use courses like this for in-service, orientation or direct support staff training, but your employer decides what counts. Check with your employer, board or state agency before relying on it for a requirement.

Who is this course for?

Nurse aides, caregivers, direct support professionals and home health aides working in nursing homes, assisted living, group homes and private homes. Supervisors and nurses can use it to refresh team practice. Examples cover several settings so it applies wherever you work.

Does the course cover both nursing homes and home and community-based services?

Yes. It explains person-centered care planning under federal nursing home rules (42 CFR 483.10 and 483.21) and under the Medicaid HCBS Settings Rule (42 CFR 441.301(c)), and shows what each means for frontline staff.

Is this course different from dementia or resident rights training?

It overlaps briefly but focuses on person-centered practice across settings: life history, choice, independence, communication and family involvement. Separate courses cover dementia care, resident rights, cultural competence and documentation in depth, and this course points you to them.

How long does it take, and how is it assessed?

Plan on about 2 hours across eight modules, with scenarios, knowledge checks and a final assessment of 23 questions. You need 80% to pass and can retake the assessment if needed.

What will I receive?

A certificate of completion for 2 contact hours and four printable job aids: a person-centered care checklist, an SBAR and stop-and-watch template, a reflection worksheet and an in-service sign-off record.

This course is general education and training awareness from CE Courses Hub on person-centered care. It is not legal, medical or professional advice and does not replace your employer's policies, each person's care or service plan, your licensing board's or registry's rules, or advice from a qualified professional. Completing it earns a certificate of completion for the stated contact hours; it is not approved or accredited by any licensing board, state agency or accreditor unless an approval is shown on the course page. Check with your board, employer or state agency whether this course meets your specific requirement.