A feasibility study of the impact of a communication-skills course, ‘Empowered Conversations’, for care partners of people living with dementia

Abstract

Objectives To examine the feasibility, acceptability and impact of an experiential course for family care partners of people living with dementia, Empowered Conversations (EC). This study aimed to assess the impact of participation in an EC course on care partner stress levels, communication and mentalization (a form of relational-based empathy). Method This study uses an uncontrolled pre–post-follow-up design. Follow-up was at 4-months after the initial EC session where baseline data were collected. One hundred and fifty-nine care partners were recruited. EC is a training course that has been designed to improve care partner communication, well-being and relationships. It is based on an integrative framework that targets the specific psychological, relationship and communication needs of carers. This framework informs targeted strategies and interactive exercises that facilitate carers to consider the goals and emotions of those they are caring for, alongside their own goals and emotions, and to use this to maximize good communication. Results Stress was significantly reduced across the three time points. Communication significantly improved across time. There were no significant changes in reflective functioning (mentalization). Discussion This study provides preliminary evidence that a communication-skills training course for care partners of people living with dementia is an acceptable and feasible intervention and has an impact both post-intervention and at follow-up. These findings require validation in a rigorous, randomized study.

The Effectiveness and Characteristics of Communication Partner Training Programs for Families of People With Dementia: A Systematic Review

“…Results on psychosocial outcomes varied across studies. Family strain (also referred to as “burden” in the literature) was significantly reduced in two within-group studies ( Gerritsen et al, 2019 ; Morris et al, 2021 ) and reduced descriptively in two within-group studies ( Berwig et al, 2020 ; Troche et al, 2019 ). Three studies found no difference in strain ( Done & Thomas, 2001 ; Haberstroh et al, 2011 ; Liddle et al, 2012 ), with one finding increase in strain posttraining, attributed to characteristics of the participant ( Ha et al, 2021 ).…”

“…Four studies did not state session frequency. The mean session length was 82 min, ranging from 45 ( Liddle et al, 2012 ) to 150 min ( Haberstroh et al, 2011 ; Morris et al, 2021 ). Four studies specified a time range for each session (e.g., 60–90 min; Olthof-Nefkens et al, 2018 ).…”

Experiences of a communication‐skills course for care partners of people living with dementia, empowered conversations: A qualitative framework analysis

“…This qualitative study was embedded within a longitudinal study to establish the impact of EC on care partner stress and communication (N = 169); this is reported in Morris et al, 2021. The study was approved by the University of Salford Health and Society Ethics Committee prior to data collection (Ref. HSR1617-176).…”

Protocol of a feasibility randomised controlled trial of Empowered Conversations: training family carers to enhance their relationships and communication with people living with dementia.

“…However, although skills-based interventions may improve carers' knowledge and communication skills, it is not common for communication skills training to include emotional aspects of care and the changing role dynamics within the caring relationship (Morris et al, 2018;Williams et al, 2018). The Empowered Conversations (EC) communication training course for carers was developed in response to the gap in service provision identified through reviewing research literature and carrying out scoping exercises and public engagement work (Innes et al, 2022;Morris et al, 2020;Morris et al, 2021). In addition, a further systematic review of communication training programmes identified that interventions were often based only on basic models of communication, lacked postintervention follow up and used a variety of non-standardised outcome measures (Perkins et al, 2022).…”

“…The course integrates evidence-based models to address the specific psychological, relationship, and communication needs of carers (Morris et al, 2020). Earlier research, using a pre-post-follow-up design, has demonstrated that carer stress was significantly reduced, and communication significantly improved over time following participation in the course (Morris et al, 2021). Twenty-eight of the 159 carers who participated in the study agreed to be interviewed after the course and twenty-seven described feeling able to better connect with the person they support after attending EC (Innes et al, 2022;Morris et al, 2020).…”