Communication Skill Training Program for Occupational Therapy Interns (COPE)

Development and Evaluation of a Communication Skill Training Program for Occupational Therapy Interns

Effective communication is one of important skills in occupational therapy (OT) practice, affecting the effectiveness and quality of therapy. Although there are only a few courses on communication skills related to OT, there is a lack of a complete, suitable, and evidence-based OT communication skills teaching programs that can effectively improve the interns' communication skills. The purpose of the study is to develop a communication skills training program for occupational therapy interns in physical dysfunction practice (COPE), and examine the effectiveness of COPE.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Education, Medical
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: COPE

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Anticipated): 216
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Sheau-Ling Huang, Ph.D.; Phone Number: +886-3366-8179; Email: cathy@ntu.edu.tw

Study Locations

• Taiwan
  • Taipei, Taiwan, 100
    • Recruiting
    • National Taiwan University Hospital
    • Contact: Sheau-Ling Huang; Phone Number: +886-3366-8179

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 20 years and older (ADULT, OLDER_ADULT)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

[interns]

• age ≥ 20 years
• an intern of occupational therapy

[patients]

• age ≥ 20 years
• enable to communicate with the others

Exclusion Criteria:

[interns]

• unwilling to be recorded

[patients]

• have communication barriers
• unwilling to be recorded

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: OTHER
• Allocation: NON_RANDOMIZED
• Interventional Model: PARALLEL
• Masking: SINGLE

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
EXPERIMENTAL: Experiment group; interns in the experiment group receive COPE during their internship.	Other: COPE; The experimental group receives the COPE during their internships. The COPE consists of two part: (1) communication skills teaching and simulation practice; (2) clinical communication teaching: record the clinical treatment process of the interns and turn them into verbatim drafts. Experts then complied the strengths and weaknesses of the interns' communication skills based on the verbatim manuscripts and gave feedback on the interns' communication skills. The interns in the experimental group will participate 1 time of the communication skills teaching and simulation practice, and 3 times of the clinical communication teaching in three months.
NO_INTERVENTION: Control group; interns in the control group do not receive any specific communication training during their internship.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Experts assessed interns' communication skills：Gap-Kalamazoo Communication Skills Assessment Forms (GKCSAF)-Faculty version	The experts will use the questionnaire named GKCSAF (faculty version) to assess interns' communication skills via verbatim draft of the audio-recording. The GKCSAF contains 9 items: build a relationship, open the discussion, gather information, understand the patients' perspective, share information, reach agreement, provide closure, demonstrate empathy, and communicate accurate information. Each item is rated on a 5-point Likert-type scale. The total score ranges from 5 to 45. The higher scores indicate better communication skills.	during procedure

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Patients or caregivers assessed interns' communication skills：Gap-Kalamazoo Communication Skills Assessment Forms (GKCSAF)-patient/caregiver version	The patients will use the questionnaire named GKCSAF (patient/caregiver version) to assess the interns' communication skills after their occupation therapy. The items and the score range are the same with the faculty version.	during procedure
Interns self-reported communication skills：Gap-Kalamazoo Communication Skills Assessment Forms (GKCSAF)-self-assessment version	The interns will use the GKCSAF (self-assessment version) to assess their communication skills via verbatim draft of the audio-recording after they communicate with the patients. The items and the score range are the same with the faculty and patient/caregiver version.	during procedure
Patients' engagements in occupational therapy：Occupational Therapy Engagement Scale (OTES)	The experts will use OTES to assess patients' engagement in occupational therapy for one week. The OTES is a questionnaire which is designed to assess patients' engagement level in occupational therapy. The OTES contains 12 items, such as "commit in therapy activities without being urged", "sustain attention until the end of one therapeutic activity", and so on. Each item is rated on a 4-point scale. The total score ranges from 0 to 36. A higher sum score indicates a higher level of engagement.	during procedure

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: National Taiwan University Hospital

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Calhoun AW, Rider EA, Peterson E, Meyer EC. Multi-rater feedback with gap analysis: an innovative means to assess communication skill and self-insight. Patient Educ Couns. 2010 Sep;80(3):321-6. doi: 10.1016/j.pec.2010.06.027. Epub 2010 Jul 17.
• Peterson EB, Calhoun AW, Rider EA. The reliability of a modified Kalamazoo Consensus Statement Checklist for assessing the communication skills of multidisciplinary clinicians in the simulated environment. Patient Educ Couns. 2014 Sep;96(3):411-8. doi: 10.1016/j.pec.2014.07.013. Epub 2014 Jul 19.
• Wu TY, Lien BY, Lequerica AH, Lu WS, Hsieh CL. Development and Validation of the Occupational Therapy Engagement Scale for Patients with Stroke. Occup Ther Int. 2019 Mar 6;2019:3164254. doi: 10.1155/2019/3164254. eCollection 2019.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (ACTUAL): October 23, 2020
• Primary Completion (ANTICIPATED): June 30, 2025
• Study Completion (ANTICIPATED): December 30, 2025

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: June 16, 2022
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 22, 2022
• First Posted (ACTUAL): June 27, 2022

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (ACTUAL): June 27, 2022
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 22, 2022
• Last Verified: June 1, 2022

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: occupational therapy; intern; Communication skill
• Other Study ID Numbers: 202006114RINC

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No