Communication skills training in dementia care: a systematic review of effectiveness, training content, and didactic methods in different care settings

ABSTRACTBackground: Caring for and caring about people with dementia require specific communication skills. Healthcare professionals and family caregivers usually receive little training to enable them to meet the communicative needs of people with dementia. This review identifies existent interventions to enhance communication in dementia care in various care settings.Methods: We searched MEDLINE, AMED, EMBASE, PsychINFO, CINAHL, The Cochrane Library, Gerolit, and Web of Science for scientific articles reporting interventions in both English and German. An intervention was defined as communication skills training by means of face-to-face interaction with the aim of improving basic communicative skills. Both professional and family caregivers were included. The effectiveness of such training was analyzed. Different types of training were defined. Didactic methods, training content, and additional organizational features were qualitatively examined.Results: This review included 12 trials totaling 831 persons with dementia, 519 professional caregivers, and 162 family caregivers. Most studies were carried out in the USA, the UK, and Germany. Eight studies took place in nursing homes; four studies were located in a home-care setting. No studies could be found in an acute-care setting. We provide a list of basic communicative principles for good communication in dementia care. Didactic methods included lectures, hands-on training, group discussions, and role-play.Conclusion: This review shows that communication skills training in dementia care significantly improves the quality of life and wellbeing of people with dementia and increases positive interactions in various care settings. Communication skills training shows significant impact on professional and family caregivers’ communication skills, competencies, and knowledge. Additional organizational features improve the sustainability of communication interventions.

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Final-Year Veterinary Students' Perceptions of Their Communication Competencies and a Communication Skills Training Program Delivered in a Primary Care Setting and Based on Kolb's Experiential Learning Theory

Journal of Veterinary Medical Education ◽

10.3138/jvme.1213-162r1 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 41 (4) ◽

pp. 371-383 ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

Michael P. Meehan ◽

Marie F. Menniti

Keyword(s):

Experiential Learning ◽

Communication Skills ◽

Care Setting ◽

Primary Care Setting ◽

Skills Training ◽

Communication Skills Training ◽

Experiential Learning Theory ◽

Veterinary Students ◽

Communication Competencies ◽

Kolb's Experiential Learning Theory

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VIPS Communication Skills Training for Paraprofessional Dementia Caregivers: An Intervention to Increase Person-Centered Dementia Care

Clinical Gerontologist ◽

10.1080/07317115.2012.702655 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 35 (5) ◽

pp. 425-445 ◽

Cited By ~ 42

Author(s):

Stacey A. Passalacqua ◽

Jake Harwood

Keyword(s):

Communication Skills ◽

Skills Training ◽

Dementia Care ◽

Communication Skills Training ◽

Dementia Caregivers

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O2-12-02: Communication skills training for care staff: Supporting quality care for people with dementia living in the community

Alzheimer s & Dementia ◽

10.1016/j.jalz.2013.04.202 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 9 ◽

pp. P340-P341

Author(s):

Erin Conway ◽

Helen Chenery

Keyword(s):

Communication Skills ◽

Quality Care ◽

Skills Training ◽

Care Staff ◽

Communication Skills Training ◽

People With Dementia

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A staff training intervention to improve communication between people living with dementia and health-care professionals in hospital: the VOICE mixed-methods development and evaluation study

Health Services and Delivery Research ◽

10.3310/hsdr06410 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 6 (41) ◽

pp. 1-134 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Rowan H Harwood ◽

Rebecca O’Brien ◽

Sarah E Goldberg ◽

Rebecca Allwood ◽

Alison Pilnick ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Literature Review ◽

Health Care Professional ◽

Communication Skills ◽

Health Care Professionals ◽

Skills Training ◽

Communication Skills Training ◽

Training Course ◽

People With Dementia ◽

Problems And Solutions

BackgroundTwenty-five per cent of hospital beds are occupied by a person living with dementia. Dementia affects expressive communication and understanding. Health-care professionals report a lack of communication skills training.ObjectivesTo identify teachable, effective strategies for communication between health-care professionals and people living with dementia, and to develop and evaluate a communication skills training course.DesignWe undertook a systematic literature review, video-recorded 41 encounters between staff and people with dementia, and used conversation analysis to investigate communication problems and solutions. We designed a communication skills training course using coproduction and multiple pedagogic approaches. We ran a pilot, followed by six courses for health-care professionals. We measured knowledge, confidence and communication behaviours before, immediately after and 1 month after the course, and undertook interviews with participants and managers. Behaviours were measured using blind-rated videos of simulations.SettingGeneral hospital acute geriatric medical wards and two hospital clinical skills centres.ParticipantsWe video-recorded 26 people with dementia and 26 professionals. Ten experts in dementia care, education, simulation and communication contributed to intervention development. Six health-care professionals took part in a pilot course, and 45 took part in the training.ResultsThe literature review identified 26 studies describing 10 communication strategies, with modest evidence of effectiveness. Health-care professional-initiated encounters followed a predictable phase structure. Problems were apparent in requests (with frequent refusals) and in closings. Success was more likely when requests were made directly, with high entitlement (authority to ask) and with lowered contingencies (made to sound less difficult, by minimising the extent or duration of the task, asking patients ‘to try’, offering help or proposing collaborative action). Closings were more successful if the health-care professional announced the end of the task, made a specific arrangement, body language matched talk, and through use of ‘closing idioms’. The training course comprised 2 days, 1 month apart, using experiential learning, including lectures, video workshops, small group discussions, simulations (with specially trained actors) and reflections. We emphasised the incorporation of previous expertise and commitment to person-centred care. Forty-four participants returned for the second training day and 43 provided complete evaluation data. Knowledge and confidence both increased. Some behaviours, especially relating to closings, were more commonly used after training. The course was rated highly in interviews, especially the use of simulations, real-life video clips and interdisciplinary learning. Participants reported that they found the methods useful in practice and were using them 1 month after the course finished.LimitationsData were from people with moderate to severe dementia, in an acute hospital, during health-care professional-initiated interactions. Analysis was limited to problems and solutions that were likely to be ‘trainable’. Actors required careful preparation to simulate people with dementia. Communication skills training course participants were volunteers, unlikely to be representative of the general workforce, who displayed high levels of baseline knowledge, confidence and skills. Before-and-after evaluations, and qualitative interviews, are prone to bias.ConclusionsRequests and closings pose particular difficulties for professionals communicating with people with dementia. We identified solutions to these problems and incorporated them into communication skills training, which improved knowledge, confidence and some communication behaviours. Simulation was an effective training modality.Future workFurther research should investigate a wider range of health, social care and family carers. Conversation analysis should be used to investigate other aspects of health-care communication.Study registrationThe systematic literature review is registered as CRD42015023437.FundingThe National Institute for Health Research Health Services and Delivery Research programme.

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The Effects of Patient Communication Skills Training on Compliance

Archives of Family Medicine ◽

10.1001/archfami.9.1.57 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

pp. 57-64 ◽

Cited By ~ 127

Author(s):

D. J. Cegala

Keyword(s):

Communication Skills ◽

Skills Training ◽

Patient Communication ◽

Communication Skills Training ◽

Patient Communication Skills Training

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Critical Care Communication Skills Training for Internal Medicine Residents

MedEdPORTAL ◽

10.15766/mep_2374-8265.10212 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Laura Rock ◽

Nina Gadmer ◽

Robert Arnold ◽

David Roberts ◽

Asha Anandaiah ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Internal Medicine ◽

Critical Care ◽

Communication Skills ◽

Skills Training ◽

Communication Skills Training ◽

Internal Medicine Residents

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Effect of Communication Skills Training Program for Oncologists Based on Patient Preferences for Communication When Receiving Bad News: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Journal of Clinical Oncology ◽

10.1200/jco.2013.51.2756 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 32 (20) ◽

pp. 2166-2172 ◽

Cited By ~ 91

Author(s):

Maiko Fujimori ◽

Yuki Shirai ◽

Mariko Asai ◽

Kaoru Kubota ◽

Noriyuki Katsumata ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Communication Skills ◽

Patient Preferences ◽

Controlled Trial ◽

Intervention Group ◽

Depression Scale ◽

Skills Training ◽

Control Group ◽

Communication Skills Training ◽

Communication Performance

Purpose The aim of this study was to identify the effects of a communication skills training (CST) program for oncologists, developed based on patient preferences regarding oncologists' communication. Participants and Methods Thirty oncologists were randomly assigned to either an intervention group (IG; 2-day CST workshop) or control group (CG). Participants were assessed on their communication performance during simulated consultation and their confidence in communicating with patients at baseline and follow-up. A total of 1,192 patients (response rate, 84.6%) who had consultations with the participating oncologists at baseline and/or follow-up were assessed regarding their distress using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, satisfaction with the consultation, and trust in their oncologist after the consultation. Results At the follow-up survey, the performance scores of the IG had improved significantly, in terms of their emotional support (P = .011), setting up a supportive environment (P = .002), and ability to deliver information (P = .001), compared with those of the CG. Oncologists in the IG were rated higher at follow-up than those in the CG in terms of their confidence in themselves (P = .001). Patients who met with oncologists after they had undergone the CST were significantly less depressed than those who met with oncologists in the CG (P = .027). However, the CST program did not affect patient satisfaction with oncologists' style of communication. Conclusion A CST program based on patient preferences is effective for both oncologists and patients with cancer. Oncologists should consider CST as an approach to enhancing their communication skills.

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