Development and evaluation of a health literacy training program for allied health professionals: A pre-post study assessing impact and implementation outcomes

Health literacy continuing education courses and tools for healthcare professionals: A scoping review

Strengthening the health literacy (HL) skills of the healthcare users is a multicomponent process involving the users, the healthcare professionals, the stakeholders, and the environment. Health organizations, universities, private initiatives, and funded projects focused on developing and implementing continuing education courses target at increasing healthcare professionals' HL. This scoping review aimed at reporting the HL continuing education courses for healthcare professionals to enhance their knowledge and skills in identifying and supporting healthcare users with limited HL, and particularly, older people. This review followed the five stages by Arksey and O'Malley framework and the guidelines by Joanna Briggs Institute for scoping reviews. Peer-reviewed papers and gray literature published between years 2000 to 2020 were included in this bibliometric search utilizing four electronic databases (PUBMED, MEDLINE, CINAHL, PSYCHINFO, and Opengrey). Twenty-seven (27) papers met the criteria, including twenty-one (21) full-texts and six (6) other records (website contents, eLearning, and funded projects). There is a lack of HL tools that address the training needs of healthcare professionals working with older adults. Tailored HL tools could benefit healthcare professionals' clinical work by improving their communication with older adults.

Consumer perspectives of allied health involvement in a public hospital setting: cross-sectional survey and electronic health record review

Objective Consumer-centred care is fundamental to high-quality health care, with allied health professionals playing a pivotal role in hospital settings. Allied health typically operates within standard weekday working-hours. Consumer preferences for receiving allied health services are largely unexplored but could inform whether weekend and/or out-of-hours services are required. This study aims to understand consumer preferences for hospital-based inpatient and outpatient allied health services. Methods Using a cross-sectional survey and convenience sampling approach, consumers of a public health service in Melbourne, Australia were surveyed about preferences for allied health service delivery. Electronic health record reviews compared the accuracy of self-reported service delivery times. Descriptive statistics, concordance and predictive values were calculated. Responses to free-text survey items were analysed using content analysis. Results Of 120 participants (79% response rate), most (69%) received allied health services, however, almost half of inpatient responders (44%) were unsure of the specific allied health professional involved. Audit results found moderate-high concordance overall (range, 77-96%) between self-reported and audit-identified allied health services by profession. Most inpatient responders had no strong day of week preference, equally selecting weekdays and weekend days, with most preferring services between 8 am and 4 pm. Outpatient responders (81%) preferred a weekday appointment between 8 am and 12 pm or before 8 am (29%) to complete scheduled activities early in the day. Conclusion While provision of allied health services during standard working-hours was preferred by most consumers, some inpatient and outpatient consumers are receptive to receiving weekend and out-of-hours services, respectively. Decisions about offering these services should consider operational capacity and research evidence.

Improving musculoskeletal physiotherapists' confidence in patient-centred care informed by acceptance and commitment therapy: A descriptive study

BACKGROUND

Patient-centred care is essential for high quality musculoskeletal care, however, few evidence-based opportunities exist that address the barriers to implementation for clinicians.

OBJECTIVE

To develop and evaluate a simulation-based educational strategy for musculoskeletal physiotherapists to increase knowledge and confidence in patient-centred care.

METHODS

Repeated-measures, single-group educational interventional descriptive study. Primary outcome was participant-reported knowledge and confidence in patient-centred care. Customized survey data was collected at baseline (T1) (N = 22), immediately after a face-to-face workshop (T2) (N = 22), and six weeks after the workshop (T3) (N = 17). Secondary outcomes included sustained implementation using the Normalization Measure Development (NoMAD) tool. Repeated-measures ANOVA was used to analyse primary outcomes.

RESULTS

Our participants were typically female (72%), early career (mean 3.3 years post-graduate) and culturally diverse (67%). Significant increases in participant confidence were noted at all time points on all five learning outcomes (repeated measures ANOVA, p < 0.001 to p = 0.009). Participants had very high baseline knowledge and no further increases were found following the intervention (p > 0.05). Normalization Measure Development data indicated high coherence, high cognitive participation, and high reflexive monitoring, with neutral results for collective action.

CONCLUSION

A novel, psychologically-informed, simulation-based educational strategy is effective in improving musculoskeletal physiotherapist confidence in patient-centred care. Participants reported implementation of skills learnt in the workshop into subsequent clinical practice.

Validity and reliability of the Chinese version of the Normalization MeAsure Development(NoMAD)

Background

The Normalization MeAsure Development (NoMAD) is a brief quantitative tool based on the Normalization Process Theory (NPT), which can measure the implementation process of new technologies and complex interventions. The aim of our study was to translate and culturally adapt the NoMAD into Chinese, and to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Chinese version of NoMAD.

Methods

According to the NoMAD translation guideline, we undertook forward translation, backward translation, and compared these translations to get a satisfactory result, then we performed cognitive interviews to achieve cross-culture adaptation. And the psychometric properties of the final version were evaluated among clinical nurses who used the pressure injuries management system via WeChat mini-program at a tertiary hospital in northwestern China.

Results

A total of 258 nurses were enrolled in our study, and the response rate was 92.1%. The Cronbach’s alpha of four dimensions were as follow: Coherence (0.768), Cognitive Participation (0.904), Collective Action (0.820), and Reflexive Monitoring (0.808). The overall internal consistency was 0.941. The confirmatory factor analysis results showed a good fit for its theoretical structure (CFI = 0.924, TLI = 0.910, RMSEA = 0.0079, SRMSR = 0.046, χ2/df = 2.61). The item-level content validity index ranged from 0.857 to 1, and the scale-level content validity index was 0.95. There were positive correlations between four constructs scores and three general normalization scores.

Conclusions

The Chinese version of NoMAD is a reliable and valid tool to evaluate the implementation process of innovations.