The development and validation of a tool to assess nurse performance in dual protection counseling

Abstract

Objective-To present preliminary evidence for the reliability and validity of the Dual Protection Counseling Checklist (DPCC), an instrument designed to evaluate nurses' fidelity to high quality dual protection counseling in a family planning setting.Methods-During a trial comparing a dual protection (DP) nurse counseling intervention to standard of care (SOC), client-counselor sessions were audiotaped. Following good inter-rater reliability, 78 audiotaped interviews were coded from the two conditions using the DPCC. We constructed indices from a subset of codes to capture three domains: Promotion of DP (PDP), Relapse Prevention Counseling (RPC), and Quality of Nurse-Client Interaction (QNCI). The association between scores on these indices and client outcomes was evaluated using logistic regression.Results-The DPCC and indices were reliable. Construct validity of indices was supported by greater frequency of target behaviors by the DP nurse. Validity of the QNCI was further supported by its association with clients' sexual risk reduction six months post counseling. Conclusion-The DPCC and indices hold practical utility for evaluation, monitoring, and supervision of nurse-client counseling sessions.Practice Implications-The Dual Protection Counseling Checklist provides a user-friendly tool for assessing nurses' and other providers' counseling behaviors in dual protection.

Impact of Contraceptive Counseling in Clinical Settings

“…After applying the retrieval criteria, 1,152 articles were reviewed more closely. Of these, 23 articles 15–37 met the inclusion criteria and are summarized in detail in the evidence table (Appendix C). Findings from two studies 29,30 are described together because they used the same sample of women.…”

“…Excluded studies included review articles, those not relevant to the key questions, those conducted in developing nations, and those focusing primarily on HIV/AIDs or STI prevention. Of the 22 studies included in this review, six 17,19,20,23,24,36 examined the impact of contraceptive counseling among adolescents, and 16 15,16,18,21,22,25–35,37 (from 17 articles) examined the impact among adults or mixed populations (adults and adolescents). Although many studies were conducted among the general population of women seeking contraceptive services, five 16,25,28,32,37 were conducted among postabortion samples, two 22,31 were conducted among postpartum samples, and one 33 was conducted among women seeking services at an STI clinic.…”

“…Of the 16 studies 15,16,18,21,22,25–35,37 (from 17 articles) that examined the impact of contraceptive counseling among adults or mixed populations (adults and adolescents), nine 16,21,22,25,28,29,31–33 were RCTs. Of these nine studies, eight were rated as having moderate risk for bias and one 31 was rated as having high risk for bias.…”

“…Of these nine studies, eight were rated as having moderate risk for bias and one 31 was rated as having high risk for bias. One 27 was a prospective, nonrandomized controlled trial, one 15 was a prospective cohort study, two 18,34 were pre–post studies, and three 26,35,37 were cross-sectional surveys. All of the non-RCT studies were rated as having high risk for bias.…”

Research on embedded counselling: An emerging topic of potential importance for the future of counselling psychology

“…A valuable means of collecting direct evidence of practitioner competence in the use of counselling skills, is to analyse audio or video recordings of their interactions with service users in real-life settings, Studies by Adams-Skinner et al (2009) and Bonvicini et al (2009) used rating scales to assess the level of counselling skill exhibited in audio-recorded segments of nurses' interactions with clients. Glowa, Frasier, and Newton (2002) directly assessed the effectiveness of physician counselling skills by sending simulated patients into a hospital clinic.…”