Patient Centred Communication Intervention

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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The most frequent consequence of a stroke is a communication impairment. When patients cannot articulate their needs, frustration and agitation are frequent responses, often resulting in poor optimization of post-stroke function. Staff's lack of knowledge of communication strategies exacerbates the problem. A key component of patient-centred care is the ability of staff to communicate in such a way that allows them to understand the patient's needs. Members of our team developed the patient-centred communication intervention (PCCI) targeting registered and unregulated staff caring for complex continuing care (CCC) patients with communication impairments post stroke. The purpose of the study is to examine if the PCCI results in improved patients' quality of life and in improved staff attitudes and skills in caring for patients with communication impairments.

Official Title
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Patient Centred Communication Intervention

Conditions
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Aphasia, Stroke

Intervention / Treatment
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* Behavioral: Patient-Centred Communication Intervention


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Patients: Inclusion Criteria diagnosis of stroke related to cerebral infarct presence of a communication impairment ability to speak and understand English before the stroke ability to consent Exclusion Criteria: global aphasia or severe Wernicke's aphasia Staff: Inclusion Criteria directly involved in providing care employed full or part-time ability to consent ability to speak and write English work with patients who have communication impairments Exclusion Criteria unwilling to provide informed consent
Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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No

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Treatment
Allocation: Non-Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| No Intervention: Control group receiving usual care<br>Usual care consists of speech language therapy for some patients. Most care is focused on swallowing assessments. | |
| Experimental: PCCI Intervention<br>The Patient-Centred Communication Intervention consists of 1) development of a communication care plan; 2)a workshop for staff focused on communication and behavioural management strategies,: and 3) implementing a staff support system. | Behavioral: Patient-Centred Communication Intervention<br>* The intervention consists of three parts: 1) development of individualized communication care plans; 2) staff attendance at a workshop focused on communication and behavioral management strategies; and 3) implementation of a staff support system.<br>|

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Stroke and Aphasia Quality of Life (SAQOL) | The SAQOL is a 39-item tool designed to measure health-related quality of life in patients post-stroke with aphasia. | Change in SAQOL from baseline to 1 month and from baseline to 3 months | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Communication-Impairment Questionnaire (CIQ) | The Communication Impairment Questionnaire is an 8-item self-report scale. It is used to measure the attitudes of nurses toward patients with communication impairments. | Change in CIQ from baseline to 1 month and from baseline to 3 months | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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Stroke, Communication impairments, Nurse-patient communication, Patient-centred care