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Active, Not Recruiting

NCT Number: NCT05700929

Evaluation of a Communication Skills Training for Nurses

The KOMPAT study aims to evaluate the effectiveness and feasibility of a needs-based communication skills training for nursing professionals in Germany and to derive recommendations for future long-term implementation. Therefore, a training program to foster communication skills of nursing professionals has been developed based on a previously conducted needs assessment and literature research. To evaluate the training a randomized controlled trail with a waitlist-control group will be conducted. It is aimed to include 180 nurses within the study, of which 90 nurse will be randomized in a stratified manner to the intervention group and 90 nurses will be randomized to the waitlist-control group. Outcomes will be assessed at baseline, post -training and 4-weeks follow-up. It is hypothesized that self-efficacy in communication with patients and further outcomes will be significantly higher among participants in the intervention group compared to participants of the waitlist-control group during post-training assessment and follow-up. The evaluation will be accompanied by a process evaluation. The training will be facilitated by a member of the research team and a nursing professional by applying the train-the-trainer approach. The KOMPAT study will be conducted at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf.

Active, Not Recruiting

This study is active but is not currently recruiting participants.

Key information

Conditions

Communication Behavior

Age range

18 year and older

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf

Hamburg, 20246, Germany

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • Nurses working at the participating departments of the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf
  • Main part of daily work includes communication with patients
  • Age ≥ 18 years
  • Completed educational program as a nurse
  • German-speaking

Exclusion criteria

  • Little or no contact with patients in daily work, e.g. an operating room nurse or within the bed management

Treatment and study plan

Communication skills training for nurses

Behavioral

Aim of the developed training will be to foster patient-centered communication skills of nursing professionals in Germany. The training consists of four modules in which participating nurses will get information regarding patient-centeredness and general communication techniques. Participants will also learn how to response to patients in escalating situations and how to communicate with seriously ill or dying patients. The underlying framework for the training is the Calgary-Cambridge Guide, a well-known model for structuring conversation with patients. Different didactic techniques (i.e. roll-play, video sequences, group discussion) will be applied. The training will be provided in small groups of 10-14 participants each. Two facilitators will give the training, one of them being a nursing professional trained according to the train-the-trainer approach, the other being a member of the research group, who was involved in the development of the training.

Primary outcomes

  1. Self-efficacy regarding communication with patients

    Time frame: Change from baseline (t0) at immediately after the training (t1) (with t1 being the primary endpoint) and at four weeks after the training (t2) for the intervention and waitlist-control group.

    Description: Self-efficacy of nurses in the context of communication with their patients will be measured by the German version of the 12-item Self-Efficacy Scale (SE-12-G). Items on this one-dimensional scale can be answered on a scale from 1 ("very uncertain") to 10 ("very certain") with an additional option to rate items as "not relevant".

Secondary outcomes

  1. Rating of the training

    Time frame: immediately after the training (t1) for the intervention group

    Rating of the training by participating nurses according to the trainings' content, used materials and didactic, measured by a short self-developed scale adapted from previous studies on the evaluation of communication skills trainings at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf.

  2. Subjective knowledge about patient-centered communication

    Time frame: Change from baseline (t0) at immediately after the training (t1) and at four weeks after the training (t2) for the intervention and waitlist-control group

    Assessment of nurses' subjective knowledge regarding patient-centered communication topics, which will be conveyed in the trainings, measured by a short self-developed scale adapted from a previous study of the research team and adapted to the content of the communication skills training.

  3. Objective knowledge about patient-centered communication

    Time frame: Change from baseline (t0) at immediately after the training (t1) and at four weeks after the training (t2) for the intervention and waitlist-control group

    Assessment of nurses' objective knowledge regarding patient-centered communication topics, which will be conveyed in the trainings, measured by several multiple choice questions developed according to the content of the communication skills training.

  4. Attitudes towards medical communication

    Time frame: Change from baseline (t0) at four weeks after the training (t2) for the intervention and waitlist-control group

    Assessment of nurses' attitudes towards medical communication measured via the German version of the 12-item Attitudes towards medical communication scale (ATMC-G).

  5. Communication skills of nurses from external observers' perspective after participation in a SPA

    Time frame: four weeks after the training (t2) for the intervention and waitlist-control group

    Objective rating of nurses' communication skills measured via Standardized Patient Assessments (SPAs). Content of SPAs were developed according to the content of the communication skills training. Ratings will be conducted by one trained member of the research team who has not previously trained the participants. Additionally, the level of anxiety associated with performing in a SPA will be assessed via the subscale 'cognitive anxiety' and the subscale 'physiological anxiety' of the Performance Text Anxiety questionnaire (PTA).

  6. Communication skills of nurses from simulation patients' perspective after participation in a SPA

    Time frame: four weeks after the training (t2) for the intervention and waitlist-control group

    After SPAs, simulation patients will assess their perceived patient-centeredness during the SPA situation with the participating nurse using items of the dimensions 'communication' and 'patient-centerdness' of the German measure Experienced Patient-Centeredness Questionnaire (EPAT).

  7. Self-assessed communication skills from participants' perspective after participation in a SPA

    Time frame: four weeks after the training (t2) for the intervention and waitlist-control group

    After SPAs, the participating nurses will self-assess their perceived communication skills via several items of the long version of the German measure Experienced Patient-Centeredness Questionnaire (EPAT), adapted for healthcare professionals.

  8. Professional fulfillment

    Time frame: Change from baseline (t0) at immediately after the training (t1) and at four weeks after the training (t2) for the intervention and waitlist-control group

    Job-related psychological burden of participating nurses including professional fulfillment, work exhaustion, interpersonal disengagement and overall burnout, measured via the German version of the 16-item Professional Fulfillment Index (PFI-G).

  9. Depression and anxiety

    Time frame: Change from baseline (t0) at immediately after the training (t1) and at four weeks after the training (t2) for the intervention and waitlist-control group

    Depression and anxiety will be measured using the German version of the 4-item measure Patient Health Questionnaire 4 (PHQ-4).

  10. Subjective working capacities

    Time frame: Change from baseline (t0) at immediately after the training (t1) and at four weeks after the training (t2) for the intervention and waitlist-control group

    Subjective working capacities of participating nurses, measured via three items covering the first two dimensions of the German version of the Work Ability Index (WAI).

  11. Experienced patient-centeredness (Covariate)

    Time frame: Change from baseline (t0) at four weeks after the training (t2) for the intervention and waitlist-control group

    Experienced person-centered climate on the wards, assessed by healthcare professionals working on the wards, measured via an adapted version of the German 16-item measure Experienced Patient-Centeredness Questionnaire (EPAT).

  12. Impact of contamination (Covariate)

    Time frame: for the intervention group at baseline (t0) only; for the waitlist-control group at baseline (t0), immediately after the training (t1) and four weeks after the training (t2)

    The measure the extent to which participants have received information about the training content prior to participation or for the waitlist-control group during all measurement points from participants, who participated already in the training, a self-developed item on the impact of contamination will be used.

Other outcomes

  1. Process evaluation

    Time frame: through study completion and until approximately June 2025

    Assessment of the implementation process applying the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) to describe fidelity and reach by documenting the implementation of the study, taking field notes by taking field notes while conducting the study as well as acceptability and appropriateness of the intervention by conducting semi-structured interviews with relevant stakeholders including non-participants of the study.

  2. Demographic items

    Time frame: baseline (t0) for the intervention and waitlist-control group

    Assessment of basic demographic information including age, sex, function, work experience, previous experience with communication skills trainings .

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Universitätsklinikum Hamburg-Eppendorf

Other

Registry information

Official study title

Evaluation of a Patient-centered Communication Skills Training for Nursing Professionals in Germany: A Randomized Controlled Trail

Acronym: KOMPAT

Important dates

Study start
2022
Primary completion
2024
Study completion
2024
First posted
Jan 26, 2023
Registry last updated
Aug 1, 2024

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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