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Building psychosocial capacity through training of front-line health professionals to provide brief therapy: lessons learned from the PROMPT study

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Abstract

Purpose

This report describes the views of front-line health professionals who participated in a randomised controlled trial examining a model of care in which depressed cancer patients received a brief psychosocial intervention. Health professionals from four cancer centres received focused training, skill development and clinical supervision in order to deliver the intervention.

Methods

We interviewed 20 health professionals asking them about their perceptions of participation in the study and their views about more widespread implementation of this model of care.

Results

Participants strongly advocated for widespread implementation of this model of care; however, their ability to deliver the intervention varied depending on clinical roles and responsibilities. Many oncology nurses expressed conflict about delivering a psychosocial intervention when their clinical unit was busy. Finding a private area in which to talk was a frequent barrier in busy clinical units. Participants reported that they applied the skills and insights acquired in the study in their routine clinical work. Supervision was highly valued and was feasible to provide in clinical settings.

Conclusion

Psychosocial care can be provided by a range of health professionals if they receive focused training and have access to supervision, but competing clinical demands are likely to limit their ability to routinely provide psychosocial care. This suggests that training should target professionals who have greater autonomy and flexibility in their work roles.

Trial registration number

ANZCTR1260000448044

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Acknowledgements

We thank participating health professionals at Monash Medical Centre, Melbourne; John Hunter Hospital, Newcastle; Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, Brisbane; and ICON Cancer Care (formerly Haematology and Oncology Clinics of Australasia). We thank research personnel including Amy Finlay, Nathalie Darlison, Jane Campbell, Sally Licence and Kerry Fleming.

Funding

beyondblue: the national depression initiative. (Study ID: 631570). The funding body had no role in the study design, collection, analysis or interpretation of data, or writing of report, or decision to submit for publication. The authors have no financial relationship with the funding source. The authors have full control of all primary data and agree to allow the journal to review data if requested.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Medicine, University of Queensland and Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, Brisbane, Australia

    Jane Turner & Lisa Mackenzie

  2. Level K, Mental Health Centre, Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, Herston, QLD, 4029, Australia

    Jane Turner

  3. University of Newcastle and John Hunter Hospital, Newcastle, Australia

    Brian Kelly

  4. Monash Medical Centre, Melbourne, Australia

    David Clarke

  5. Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia

    Patsy Yates

  6. Cancer Institute New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

    Sanchia Aranda

  7. Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, Australia

    Sanchia Aranda

  8. Cancer Council Australia, Sydney, Australia

    Sanchia Aranda

Authors
  1. Jane Turner
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  2. Lisa Mackenzie
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  4. David Clarke
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  6. Sanchia Aranda
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jane Turner.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Appendix. Questions in semi-structured interview

Appendix. Questions in semi-structured interview

  1. 1.

    What was it like to deliver the Intervention?

    • Did you feel anxious?

    • Did you feel that you had sufficient training?

    • Did you feel that you were able to access support if things were difficult?

    • Do you have any other comments about this?

  2. 2.

    Can we discuss your experience of clinical supervision (Case Review)?

    • Have you ever participated in a similar experience?

    • Did the experience feel comfortable or was it confronting?

    • Did you feel able to openly discuss how things were going for you in delivery of the Intervention?

    • Did you feel that you were able to obtain clear assistance with any problems?

    • Were there benefits for you from this process which extended beyond the actual delivery of the Intervention?

    • Do you have any other comments about this?

  3. 3.

    Can you tell me if you feel that participation in the PROMPT study has had any impact on your other clinical work?

  4. 4.

    Are you able to describe any impact of participation in the PROMPT study more personally, for example in your attitudes towards work or patients, or your confidence?

  5. 5.

    What do you perceive would be the enablers and barriers to implementation of the PROMPT study approach into routine clinical practice?

  6. 6.

    Do you have any other comments you would like to make about your involvement in the PROMPT study?

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Turner, J., Mackenzie, L., Kelly, B. et al. Building psychosocial capacity through training of front-line health professionals to provide brief therapy: lessons learned from the PROMPT study. Support Care Cancer 26, 1105–1112 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-017-3929-8

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