Knowledge Of Communication Strategies Research Articles

Communicative participation in goal-setting meetings for patients with aphasia after stroke. A study using patients' and healthcare professionals' self-ratings.

Communicative participation poses a challenge in meetings between healthcare professionals (HCPs) and people with aphasia (PwA). How communication is affected by aphasia in group meetings, where several healthcare professionals participate together with the patient, is largely unexplored. The aim of this study was to investigate self-rated communicative participation during goal-setting meetings among PwA compared to patients without aphasia and to investigate whether communicative participation among PwA was associated with self-rated knowledge about aphasia among HCPs. A further aim was to investigate if there was a difference in the use of communication strategies among HCPs in the respective situations. Nine PwA and nine control patients without aphasia rated their experience of communication during a goal-setting meeting. Thirty-eight HCPs rated their knowledge about aphasia and communication, and their use of communication strategies during goal-setting meetings. The PwA reported being listened to by the HCPs as well as being able to comprehend the meeting. PwA with more severe language impairment did not report a lower level of communicative participation compared to PwA with milder impairment. Half of the patients from both groups indicated some difficulty asking questions during the meeting. Patients' ratings of communication were not correlated to HCPs' knowledge of communication strategies. There was a significant difference in self-rated use of communication strategies among HCPs for the two conditions, although the individual variation was large. Results from both PwA and controls imply that patients may need more support to be able to ask questions in meetings with HCPs. Although self-ratings increase the ecological validity of the study of participation, further studies could benefit from using video observations in combination with self-reported experience, since awareness might influence results. What is already known on this subject Aphasia is an acquired language disorder that affects patient-provider communication. In stroke rehabilitation, person-centred goal setting is a key component. If healthcare professionals (HCPs) are not able to use adequate communication strategies, a lack of accessible communication can become a barrier to person-centredness. There are evidence-based communication strategies which can be used to overcome this barrier. What this paper adds to existing knowledge This study aimed to investigate communicative participation during goal-setting meetings from the perspective of patients with aphasia and HCPs. To our knowledge, this is the first study where persons with aphasia are asked to rate communicative participation in goal-setting meetings. To broaden the perspective on communication and goal setting, ratings of patients with aphasia are compared to ratings by patients with stroke but no aphasia. The results of this study indicate that there is room for improvement regarding communication during goal-setting meetings. However, asking direct questions on communicative participation to persons with severe aphasia may not be feasible. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? The results of this study imply that both patients with and without aphasia may need more support to be able to express themselves during goal-setting meetings. There also seems to be a need for further education on aphasia and communication strategies among rehabilitation professionals.

Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training and impact on mental illness and substance use-related stigma among law enforcement

Limited empirical data and research exists about stigmatizing attitudes and perceptions held by law enforcement officers towards persons with mental illness and substance use issues. Pre- and post-training survey data from 92 law enforcement personnel who attended a 40-hour Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training was used to investigate training-related changes in mental illness stigma and substance use stigma. Training participant's mean age was 38.35 ± 9.50 years, majority white non-Hispanic race/ethnicity (84.2%), male gender (65.2%), and reported job category as road patrol (86.9%). Pre-training, 76.1% endorsed at least one stigmatizing attitude towards people with mental illness, and 83.7% held a stigmatizing attitude towards those with substance use problems. Poisson regression revealed that working road patrol (RR=0.49, p<0.05), awareness of community resources (RR=0.66, p<0.05), and higher levels of self-efficacy (RR=0.92, p<0.05) were associated with lower mental illness stigma pre-training. Knowledge of communication strategies (RR=0.65, p<0.05) was associated with lower pre-training substance use stigma. Post-training, improvement in knowledge of community resources and increases in self-efficacy were significantly associated with decreases in both mental illness and substance use stigma. These findings highlight the existence of stigma related to both mental illness and substance use pre-training suggesting the need for implicit and explicit bias training prior to the start of active law enforcement duty. These data are consistent with prior reports indicating CIT trainings as a path to address mental illness and substance use stigma. Further research on effects of stigmatizing attitudes and additional stigma-specific training content is warranted.

PROFESSIONAL AND COMMUNICATIVE IMAGE AS A RESULT OF LANGUAGE EDUCATION OF FOREIGN MEDICINE STUDENTS

In today’s globalized world, the academic migration of persons receiving higher education outside their home countries is gaining more and more popularity. The main factor in the success of obtaining a professional qualification in foreign universities is proficiency in the language in which educational services are provided. For foreign applicants for higher education (in particular, medical one) in Ukraine, the language of instruction is Ukrainian or English, but in any case, the language of interaction in the academic and sociocultural environment is the state language of the country of study. So, foreign students who receive higher medical education in Ukraine in English, master the Ukrainian language as a means of communicative interaction in the social, cultural, educational and academic environment, and also during clinical practice. This article presents a model of the result of language education of foreign medical students – their professional and communicative image. An accurate understanding of the learning outcome, focus on this result will significantly increase the effectiveness of the educational process. The author describes the structure and content of the studied phenomenon. The professional and communicative image of a doctor is a complex multicomponent phenomenon, the formation of which ensures the success of the communicative act in the professional sphere. This research provides a generalized list of requirements for the personality of a healthcare professional. The listed qualities should be manifested in a certain communicative style through strategies and tactics, and their implementation is ensured by knowledge of the necessary language means and mastery of skills in various types of speech activity.&#x0D; The model of professional and communicative image developed by the author as a result of teaching the Ukrainian language to foreign medical students has three levels: psychological, cognitive, and operational. The components of the psychological level are moral and ethical, volitional, organizational-communicative and professional-communicative qualities of a future doctor; knowledge of communication strategies and tactics required by a highly qualified physician, as well as typical genres of medical discourse constitute the cognitive-communicative level; language units we refer to the cognitive-language level; empathic listening, tolerant speaking, reading and writing in the clinical field are referred to the operational level. The linguodidactic description of the components of the studied phenomenon served as the basis for the development of a multi-aspect model of language education for foreign medical students in the English-language form of education.

Telepractice communication partner training for health professionals: A randomised trial

Purpose: Communication partner training can be beneficial in reducing accessibility barriers for people with aphasia The aim of the present study was to determine whether face-to-face or telepractice (real time video-teleconference system) delivery of a communication partner training program was associated with greater improvements in confidence and knowledge of effective communication strategies among allied health professionals.Method: 55 health professionals were randomly allocated to receive face-to-face (n = 27) or telepractice (n = 28) communication partner training. All participants completed their allocated training. A customised mixed-methods self-completed questionnaire was used before and after receiving communication partner training for participants to rate their confidence when communicating with people with aphasia using a 100mm visual analogue scale and answer an open-ended question about knowledge of communication strategies. Results: At baseline, there was no significant differences between groups in confidence ratings (median (IQR), face-to-face 48mm (32mm, 54mm), telepractice 43mm (29mm, 56mm)) or number of strategies identified (face-to-face median=4, IQR 3-5; telepractice median=3, IQR 2-4). At the post-intervention assessment, confidence was significantly higher (p<0.001) for both groups (median (IQR), face-to-face 95mm (90mm, 97mm), telepractice 93mm (88mm, 97mm)), but no significant effect of group allocation was present. Similarly, more communication strategies (p<0.001) were identified (face-to-face median=9, IQR 8-12; telepractice median=9, IQR 8-11) but no significant effect of group allocation was present.Conclusions: This study demonstrated health professionals confidence for communicating with people with aphasia and knowledge of strategies to facilitate communication improved immediately after receiving communication partner training via either face-to-face or telepractice, but neither approach was superior.

Evaluating Online Continuing Professional Development Regarding Weight Management for Pregnancy Using the New World Kirkpatrick Model.

Clinical practice guidelines advocate the importance of continuing professional development (CPD) that supports health professionals (HPs) to discuss the sensitive topic of maternal weight management with women. However, there is a lack of accredited CPD related to this important area of preconception and antenatal care. Therefore, aims were to evaluate HPs' reactions to accredited online CPD regarding weight management for pregnancy and their knowledge, attitudes, confidence, and commitment to provide women with advice after completing the course. A mixed-methods evaluation was based on the New World Kirkpatrick Model (NWKM). Accredited online CPD was developed by experts in maternal nutrition and weight management. Participants completed a questionnaire before (n = 136) and after (n = 65) the weight management components of the course. McNemar and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were used to evaluate paired data (n = 36) (p < .05). Deductive content analyses explored free-text responses (n = 65). Participants' reactions to the online CPD were encouraging, facilitating increases in perceptions of the importance of weight management for pregnancy and confidence to provide advice. Quantitative measures assessed no change in participants' knowledge; however, qualitative analyses revealed an increase in participants' knowledge of communication strategies that they intend to apply in practice. The NWKM facilitated an evaluation of HPs' encouraging reactions to online CPD and the affective constructs of education including attitudes, confidence, and commitment to provide advice. Online CPD should be developed with collaboration between universities/professional associations and health care providers, so that evaluation of organizational change and clinical outcomes is possible.

INTERGRATION LANGUAGE COURSES IN VOCATIONAL TRAINING OF ECONOMISTS

The article focuses on the professional component of educational paradigm. The author proves that it is essential to change the content of a particular educational paradigm from knowledge transfer to education based on competences focused on the actual process. It is essential for the students to form intercultural competence combining different strategies of linguistic behavior in native and foreign languages, appropriately use knowledge of communication strategies and tactics of professional communication.

Teaching children about dementia: Pilot findings from the hip hop old S.C.H.O.O.L. (Seniors Can Have Optimal aging and Ongoing Longevity) program

Background: Progressive deterioration of communication abilities can contribute to social isolation, reduced quality of life and increased behavioural disturbances for people with dementia, and subsequently lead to placement in residential care. Training community-based aged care staff to use strategies that facilitate communication with people with dementia can help to reduce these negative effects, prior to placement in residential care. Based on research and clinical evidence, the MESSAGE Communication Strategies in Dementia training has been developed to provide staff with evidence-based strategies to facilitate communication with people with dementia. This training provides an opportunity to improve staff communication and support their ability to provide person-centred care, while maintaining people in their own home for as long as possible. Methods: A controlled pre-test/post-test design was used to evaluate the benefits of providing communication skills training to staff providing community-based aged care to people with dementia. The training group (n1⁄413) watched the video-based MESSAGE training, and were provided with individual feedback on strategy use in conversations with clients. Staff in the control group (n1⁄417) continued with care as usual. Outcomes were measured at baseline and 3-months later at follow-up, and included measures of knowledge of communication support strategies, preparedness to provide care, and attitudes to dementia care. Staff knowledge was assessed again for the training group immediately after watching the training video. Results: Staff in the training group demonstrated a significant improvement in their knowledge of communication strategies between baseline and immediately after training (Z1⁄4-2.451, p1⁄40.014), and also, for those training group participants that have completed the 3-month follow-up to date (n1⁄47), between baseline and follow-up (Z1⁄4-1.992, p 1⁄40.046). The training group also showed a significant increase in preparedness to provide care following training (Z1⁄4-2.366, p 1⁄40.018). The control group showed no significant changes in outcomes between baseline and follow-up. Conclusions: The MESSAGE training resulted in increased staff knowledge of communication support in dementia, and improved staff ratings of preparedness to provide care to people with dementia. This training has the potential to lead to sustainable changes in both staff confidence and quality of care when working with people with dementia.

Enhancing physician-patient communication.

Physician-patient communication encompasses the verbal and nonverbal interactions that form the basis for the doctor-patient relationship. A growing body of research and guidelines development acknowledges that physicians do not have to be born with excellent communication skills, but rather can learn them as they practice the other aspects of medicine. Improvement in physician-patient communication can result in better patient care and help patients adapt to illness and treatment. In addition, knowledge of communication strategies may decrease stress on physicians because delivering bad news, dealing with patients' emotions, and sharing decision making, particularly around issues of informed consent or when medical information is extremely complex, have been recognized by physicians as communication challenges. This paper will provide an overview of research aimed at improving patient outcome through better physician-patient communication and discuss guidelines and practical suggestions immediately applicable to clinical practice.

Functional Communication with AD Patients

The loss of functional communication in Alzheimer disease (AD) results from the disproportionate breakdowns in the pragmatic and semantic areas of language in these patients. Communication breakdown is regularly listed among the top four stressors in measures of stress and burden of AD caregivers. A caregiver training program designed around seven specific communication strategies can be used to alter communication interactions. As a pilot program, the acronym FOCUSED organized the seven strategies for easy recall (Face-to-face, Orientation, Continuity, Unsticking, Structure, Exchanges, and Direct). Significant differences in both attitude toward AD patients, knowledge of AD, and knowledge of communication strategies were shown in comparisons of pre- and posttraining assessments.

Previous Learning Experience, Strategy Beliefs, and Task Definition in Self-Regulated Foreign Language Learning

This study investigated relationships among individuals′ foreign language learning experiences, their beliefs about the effectiveness of different language learning strategies, and their definition of the learning task. Participants were 194 college students. The study distinguished between functional learning strategies, involving communicative use of the foreign language, and formal learning strategies, involving conscious study of the language. Individuals with experience in a foreign language community or immersion program placed greater emphasis on functional strategies and defined the task as being less dependent on grammar than individuals with traditional instruction only. Strategy beliefs were also related to individuals′ definition of the learning task, such that individuals who defined the task as involving more procedural knowledge (e.g., knowledge of communication strategies) emphasized functional learning strategies, while individuals who defined the task as involving more declarative knowledge (e.g., knowledge of grammar) emphasized formal learning strategies.