Evaluation of an advance care planning training program for practice professionals in Japan incorporating shared decision making skills training: a prospective study of a curricular intervention

Home care practice behavior and its influencing factors of primary care providers: a multicenter cross-sectional study in Sichuan Province, China

BACKGROUND

Primary care providers play an important role in home health care, and their practice behavior is significant for care quality and patient outcomes. This study aimed to assess the home care practice behavior of Chinese primary care providers and to explore the factors associated with the practice behavior.

METHODS

A multicenter cross-sectional design with a convenience sample was used to survey 863 registered primary care providers from 62 primary health care settings in Sichuan Province, China. Descriptive statistics, t-test or ANOVA for one-way analysis, and Pearson's correlation analyses were used to compare the differences and examine the relationships between participants' demographics and experience of home care services and practice behavior. Multiple linear regression models were performed to identify salient variables associated with the practice behavior from among demographic and home care experience.

RESULTS

The score of home care practice behavior questionnaire was 97.25 ± 21.05. The average scores for the dimensions of home visit preparation, assessment, medical care behavior and safety practice were 3.70 ± 0.95, 3.76 ± 1.02, 3.66 ± 1.03, and 3.20 ± 0.46, respectively. Home care practice behavior was associated with working years, working experience in general hospitals, work area, home care experience such as client types of home care, service frequency and willingness, explaining 21.5% of the total variance.

CONCLUSION

Chinese primary care providers had a medium to high level of home care practice behavior but poor implementation of safety practice. The results may provide clues to increased focus and implementation of safety practice, as well as providing targeted measures based on influencing factors.

An Exploratory Study of Issues in Training Facilitators for Online Training in Advance Care Planning: Mixed Methods Research

Advance care planning (ACP) has attracted increasing research attention in recent years. In Japan, extensive training has been conducted to improve communication through workshops, such as role-playing. In training, including trainee-centered work, the facilitator who assists trainee learning plays an important role. However, only a few studies have focused on the training of facilitators. Therefore, we exploratorily analyzed by the mixed method the differences in the approaches of experienced and inexperienced facilitators during workshops and conducted a study that could contribute to facilitator training in the future. We recorded the comments and attitudes of 12 facilitators who participated in ACP training conducted in 2022. Based on analysis of the obtained data, a distinct difference was confirmed in the progression of trainee-based learning, encouragement to deepen learning among trainees, and trainees' responses to questions. Thus, this study indicated the importance of having the opportunity for fellow facilitators to learn through facilitation with experienced facilitators and involvement in issue awareness.

Quality of cancer treatment care before and after a palliative care pathway: bereaved relatives' perspectives

OBJECTIVE

Appropriate communication between healthcare providers and patients and their families is an essential part of good (palliative) care. We investigated whether implementation of a standardised palliative care pathway (PCP) facilitated communication, that is, aspects of shared decision-making (SDM), including advance care planning (ACP) conversations and satisfaction with care as experienced by bereaved relatives of patients with advanced cancer.

METHODS

We conducted a prospective preintervention and postintervention study in a hospital. Questionnaires were sent to relatives of patients who died between February 2014 and February 2015 (pre-PCP period) or between November 2015 and November 2016 (post-PCP period). Relatives' perceptions on communication and satisfaction with care were assessed using parts of the Views of Informal Carers-Evaluation of Services and IN-PATSAT32 Questionnaires.

RESULTS

195 (46%) and 180 (42%) bereaved relatives completed the questionnaire in the pre-PCP and post-PCP period, respectively. The majority of all patients in both the pre-PCP period and the post-PCP period had been told they had an incurable illness (92% and 89%, respectively, p=0.544), mostly in the presence of a relative (88% and 85%, respectively, p=0.865) and had discussed their preferences for end-of-life (EOL) treatment (82% and 76%, respectively, p=0.426). Bereaved relatives were reasonably satisfied with the received hospital care in both groups.

CONCLUSIONS

We found no overall effect of the PCP on the communication process and satisfaction with EOL care of bereaved relatives. Before the use of the PCP bereaved relatives already reported favourably about the EOL care provided.

Evaluation of an Advanced Care Planning Training Program Incorporating Online Skills in Shared Decision Making: A Preintervention and Postintervention Comparative Study

AIM

This study evaluated an advanced care planning (ACP) training program incorporating online skills in shared decision making (SDM).

METHOD

The New World Kirkpatrick Model was employed to assess the efficacy of the training program at four levels: reaction, learning, behavior, and results. Reaction measured the participants' satisfaction and difficulty with the training program alongside the status of support received from workplaces engaging in ACP. Learning evaluated the changes in SDM skills. Behavior assessed the changes in the relationship between patients and healthcare professionals when the latter were involved in the SDM process. Results evaluated whether the participants were willing to participate in ACP educational programs as a facilitator and whether their motivation for continuous learning changed through throughout the training program. The relationships among patients, healthcare providers, and third-party roles were analyzed in SDM role-playing via structural equation modeling (SEM).

RESULTS

Between September 2020 and June 2022, 145 multidisciplinary participants completed the entirety of the training program. The most common responses to the training were "satisfied", "slightly difficult", and "I received some support from my workplace". The SDM skills significantly improved from the first to the third workshop, evaluated using the Wilcoxon rank-sum test. In the first workshop, SDM was primarily performed by healthcare providers; however, in the third workshop, patient-centered SDM was adopted. Of the participants who completed the program, 63% intended to participate in future ACP educational programs as ACP education facilitators.

CONCLUSION

This study ascertained the validity of this training.

Validation of the Novel Interprofessional Shared Decision-Making Questionnaire to Facilitate Multidisciplinary Team Building in Patient-Centered Care

To support patients in making complex and difficult decisions, it is necessary to form a team that comprises different specialists, the patient, and family members who have detailed information about the latter. Shared decision-making (SDM) is the foundation of patient-centered care; however, its structure in the context of multidisciplinary teams remains unclear. This cross-sectional study aimed to validate the novel interprofessional SDM measure ("Group's SDM measure"). We used data of 175 participants who attended SDM Workshops for Advance Care Planning. The Group's SDM measure included 10 Japanese items that could be used by small groups of multidisciplinary professionals, and the responses were rated using a 6-point Likert scale. The index exhibited a single-factor structure and high goodness of fit with residual correlation via factor analysis. We calculated Cronbach's α (α = 0.948) and McDonald's ω (ω = 0.948) and verified high internal consistency. The Group's SDM measure can be used when evaluating the SDM process where multidisciplinary professionals are involved. We hope that in the future, it will lead to the promotion of interprofessional SDM through training with the use of this measure.