Brief Training in Psychological Assessment and Intervention Skills For
Critical Care Healthcare Professionals: A mixed methods evaluation
Abstract
Rationale, Aims, and Objectives: The risk of mental health problems
during the coronavirus pandemic is greater for critical care patients,
and has led to demand for services to provide effective training in
psychological skills to healthcare professionals (HCPs) to enable a
timely, service-wide response. A one-day psychological skills training
workshop was developed to build critical care HCPs confidence in
screening for psychological distress and delivering
Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT) low-intensity psychological
interventions. This study aimed to (1) examine whether the training
package improved HCPs confidence in assessing and managing symptoms of
depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and delirium among
critical care patients, and (2) explore how HCPs implemented learned
skills in practice. Method: A mixed methods design was used.
Self-reported pre and post training questionnaires examined participant
confidence in delivering psychological assessments and interventions to
patients. A paired-sample t-test and Wilcoxon tests examined differences
between pre and post scores. Participants were invited to a
semi-structured interview one year after attending the training day.
Qualitative data were thematically analysed to explore how practitioners
implemented learning into clinical practice. Results: Most participants
(55 of 58) completed pre and post questionnaires. There was a
significant improvement in participants’ confidence to assess and manage
symptoms of psychological distress using brief CBT skills. Four
participants were interviewed at follow-up and four themes emerged from
analysis: ‘facilitating psychologically-informed conversations with
patients’; ‘recognising the benefits of using standardised
questionnaires’; ‘facilitating implementation with pre-existing skills
and experience’; and ‘barriers to implementation’. Conclusion: The
training workshop significantly improved confidence in delivering
psychological support with a large effect size. This validates and
generalises results from previous studies using similar training in
cancer care. Integrating pre-existing skills and knowledge whilst
acknowledging and managing HCPs anxieties may help to further boost
their confidence in using psychological skills while maintaining rapport
with patients.