The VOICE study – a before and after study of a dementia communication skills training course
Background A quarter of acute hospital beds are occupied by persons living with dementia, many of whom have communication problems. Healthcare professionals lack confidence in dementia communication skills, but there are no evidence-based communication skills training approaches appropriate for p...
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| Format: | Article |
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Public Library of Science
2018
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/52392/ |
| _version_ | 1848798715837415424 |
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| author | Fuh, Jong-Ling O’Brien, Rebecca Goldberg, Sarah. E. Pilnick, Alison Beeke, Suzanne Schneider, Justine Sartain, Kate Thomson, Louise Murray, Megan Baxendale, Bryn Harwood, Rowan H. |
| author_facet | Fuh, Jong-Ling O’Brien, Rebecca Goldberg, Sarah. E. Pilnick, Alison Beeke, Suzanne Schneider, Justine Sartain, Kate Thomson, Louise Murray, Megan Baxendale, Bryn Harwood, Rowan H. |
| author_sort | Fuh, Jong-Ling |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Background
A quarter of acute hospital beds are occupied by persons living with dementia, many of whom have communication problems. Healthcare professionals lack confidence in dementia communication skills, but there are no evidence-based communication skills training approaches appropriate for professionals working in this context. We aimed to develop and pilot a dementia communication skills training course that was acceptable and useful to healthcare professionals, hospital patients and their relatives.
Methods
The course was developed using conversation analytic findings from video recordings of healthcare professionals talking to patients living with dementia in the acute hospital, together with systematic review evidence of dementia communication skills training and taking account of expert and service-user opinion. The two-day course was based on experiential learning theory, and included simulation and video workshops, reflective diaries and didactic teaching. Actors were trained to portray patients living with dementia for the simulation exercises. Six courses were run between January and May 2017. 44/45 healthcare professionals attended both days of the course. Evaluation entailed: questionnaires on confidence in dementia communication; a dementia communication knowledge test; and participants’ satisfaction. Video-recorded, simulated assessments were used to measure changes in communication behaviour.
Results
Healthcare professionals increased their knowledge of dementia communication (mean improvement 1.5/10; 95% confidence interval 1.0–2.0; p<0.001). Confidence in dementia communication also increased (mean improvement 5.5/45; 95% confidence interval 4.1–6.9; p<0.001) and the course was well-received. One month later participants reported using the skills learned in clinical practice. Blind-ratings of simulated patient encounters demonstrated behaviour change in taught communication behaviours to close an encounter, consistent with the training, but not in requesting behaviours.
Conclusion
We have developed an innovative, evidence-based dementia communication skills training course which healthcare professionals found useful and after which they demonstrated improved dementia communication knowledge, confidence and behaviour. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:24:11Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-52392 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:24:11Z |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-523922024-08-15T15:29:32Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/52392/ The VOICE study – a before and after study of a dementia communication skills training course Fuh, Jong-Ling O’Brien, Rebecca Goldberg, Sarah. E. Pilnick, Alison Beeke, Suzanne Schneider, Justine Sartain, Kate Thomson, Louise Murray, Megan Baxendale, Bryn Harwood, Rowan H. Background A quarter of acute hospital beds are occupied by persons living with dementia, many of whom have communication problems. Healthcare professionals lack confidence in dementia communication skills, but there are no evidence-based communication skills training approaches appropriate for professionals working in this context. We aimed to develop and pilot a dementia communication skills training course that was acceptable and useful to healthcare professionals, hospital patients and their relatives. Methods The course was developed using conversation analytic findings from video recordings of healthcare professionals talking to patients living with dementia in the acute hospital, together with systematic review evidence of dementia communication skills training and taking account of expert and service-user opinion. The two-day course was based on experiential learning theory, and included simulation and video workshops, reflective diaries and didactic teaching. Actors were trained to portray patients living with dementia for the simulation exercises. Six courses were run between January and May 2017. 44/45 healthcare professionals attended both days of the course. Evaluation entailed: questionnaires on confidence in dementia communication; a dementia communication knowledge test; and participants’ satisfaction. Video-recorded, simulated assessments were used to measure changes in communication behaviour. Results Healthcare professionals increased their knowledge of dementia communication (mean improvement 1.5/10; 95% confidence interval 1.0–2.0; p<0.001). Confidence in dementia communication also increased (mean improvement 5.5/45; 95% confidence interval 4.1–6.9; p<0.001) and the course was well-received. One month later participants reported using the skills learned in clinical practice. Blind-ratings of simulated patient encounters demonstrated behaviour change in taught communication behaviours to close an encounter, consistent with the training, but not in requesting behaviours. Conclusion We have developed an innovative, evidence-based dementia communication skills training course which healthcare professionals found useful and after which they demonstrated improved dementia communication knowledge, confidence and behaviour. Public Library of Science 2018-06-11 Article PeerReviewed Fuh, Jong-Ling, O’Brien, Rebecca, Goldberg, Sarah. E., Pilnick, Alison, Beeke, Suzanne, Schneider, Justine, Sartain, Kate, Thomson, Louise, Murray, Megan, Baxendale, Bryn and Harwood, Rowan H. (2018) The VOICE study – a before and after study of a dementia communication skills training course. PLoS ONE, 13 (6). e0198567/1-e0198567/16. ISSN 1932-6203 http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0198567 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0198567 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0198567 |
| spellingShingle | Fuh, Jong-Ling O’Brien, Rebecca Goldberg, Sarah. E. Pilnick, Alison Beeke, Suzanne Schneider, Justine Sartain, Kate Thomson, Louise Murray, Megan Baxendale, Bryn Harwood, Rowan H. The VOICE study – a before and after study of a dementia communication skills training course |
| title | The VOICE study – a before and after study of a dementia communication skills training course |
| title_full | The VOICE study – a before and after study of a dementia communication skills training course |
| title_fullStr | The VOICE study – a before and after study of a dementia communication skills training course |
| title_full_unstemmed | The VOICE study – a before and after study of a dementia communication skills training course |
| title_short | The VOICE study – a before and after study of a dementia communication skills training course |
| title_sort | voice study – a before and after study of a dementia communication skills training course |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/52392/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/52392/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/52392/ |