Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Aug;24(4):1433-1442.
doi: 10.1111/hex.13283. Epub 2021 May 28.

Implementation of training to improve communication with disabled children on the ward: A feasibility study

Kath Wilkinson  1 , Rebecca Gumm  2 , Helen Hambly  1 , Stuart Logan  1 , Christopher Morris  1
Affiliations

Implementation of training to improve communication with disabled children on the ward: A feasibility study

Kath Wilkinson et al. Health Expect. 2021 Aug.

Abstract

Background: Parents of disabled children report poorer inpatient experiences when they stay in hospital, and some staff report finding communicating with disabled children challenging. This study tested the feasibility of implementing a training package for staff on paediatric wards to improve communication with disabled children, especially those with communication difficulties, and their families. The package was developed with parent carers and clinicians, and comprises a manual, a video of parent carers talking about real experiences, discussion points and local resources. The 50-minutes training is intended for in-house delivery by local facilitators.

Methods: Thirteen training sessions were delivered in paediatric wards across four hospitals in England, totalling 123 staff who took part. Participants completed questionnaires before (n = 109) and after (n = 36) training, and a sample of champions (senior clinicians) and facilitators were interviewed at the end of the study.

Results: Facilitators found the training easy to deliver, and participants felt they took away important messages to improve their practice. After the training, further changes were reported at an organizational level, including offering further training and reviewing practices.

Conclusions: This study provides supporting evidence for the implementation of a low-cost, minimal-resource training package to support staff communication with children and their families in hospitals. It provides promising indication of impact on behavioural change at the individual and organizational level.

Patient and public contribution: Parent carers identified the need and helped to develop the training, including featuring in the training video. They were also consulted throughout the study on research design, delivery and reporting.

Keywords: communication; disabled children; implementation; inpatient; training.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

None to disclose.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Flow of participants through the study
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. United Nations . Convention on the Rights of the Child. New York, NY: United Nations; 1989.
    1. United Nations . Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. New York, NY: United Nations; 2006.
    1. Care Quality Commission . Children and Young People's Survey. London, UK: Care Quality Commission; 2018.
    1. Oulton K, Gibson F, Carr L, et al. Mapping staff perspectives towards the delivery of hospital care for children and young people with and without learning disabilities in England: a mixed methods national study. BMC Health Serv Res. 2018;18:203. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Oulton K, Wray J, Hassiotis A, et al. Learning disability nurse provision in children's hospitals: hospital staff perceptions of whether it makes a difference. BMJ Paediatrics Open. 2019;19(1):192. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources