‘Sometimes you need an eye‐opener’: A qualitative study on nursing assistants' experiences of developing communication skills through an educational intervention on person‐centred communication

Abstract

Communication skills are crucial in nursing assistants' (NAs') delivery of high-quality home care services (HCS) to older persons (World Health Organization, 2015). However, research has pointed to communication challenges in home care (Hafskjold et al., 2017;Sundler et al., 2016) and gaps in NAs' communication competence (Bing-Jonsson et al., 2016), in addition to organizational barriers that prevent good communication by NAs (Beck et al., 2012;Choe et al., 2015). Therefore, an educational intervention, the ACTION (A person-centred CommunicaTION) program, was developed to hone NAs' communication skills in home care for older persons (Gustafsson et al., 2021). The current study was conducted to understand how NAs could experience this educational intervention. Qualitative research approaches can give in-depth insights into the appropriateness and efficiency of interventions (Skivington et al., 2021).

Nurse assistants’ experiences of encountering patients in grief due to the death of a loved one - a qualitative study in municipal health and social care

“…Buber´s perspective highlights the significance of NAs acknowledging the need to occasionally distance themselves and adopt an objective stance within an I-It relationship, enabling them to effectively manage their own emotions. Healthcare professionals’ own emotions should not take over their ability to provide professional care and support (Gustafsson et al, 2023 ). This aspect was significant for the NAs as they aimed to maintain a professional approach during meetings with patients in grief.…”

Communication in home care—A feasibility study of an educational intervention in self‐efficacy and job satisfaction

“…This implies a need for exploration and modification of the instruments in a larger sample in future studies conducted specifically in home‐care settings, preferably combined with observed communication. A forthcoming qualitative study within this research project (Gustafsson et al, 2022) describes that these NAs perceived their communication skills overall as good, but limited in challenging situations, such as when communicating with persons with mental illnesses, dementia, aggressiveness and end‐of‐life care.…”