Training healthcare assistants working in adult acute inpatient wards in Psychological First Aid: An implementation and evaluation study

Abstract

What is known on the subject Healthcare assistants are untrained and unregistered frontline staff but are expected to be proactive in preventing and responding to ‘untoward’ incidents quickly and efficiently when working within adult acute inpatient psychiatric settings. Healthcare assistants should be trained to provide enhanced care to service users residing in acute psychiatric settings. To date, a training programme in Psychological First Aid has not been expended in such a setting with nonregistered staff. What the paper adds to existing knowledge The study demonstrates that training healthcare assistants in Psychological First Aid is useful in improving their confidence in caring for service users, therapeutic engagement with service users and ward culture in general. What are the implications for practice A training programme in Psychological First Aid for healthcare assistants to enhance ward culture can be implemented in different practice environments. Psychological First Aid is harmonious with nursing values and provides healthcare assistants with a relevant, useful and easily understood toolkit to apply in acute psychiatric settings. Abstract IntroductionHealthcare assistants working within adult acute inpatient psychiatric settings are untrained and unregistered, however, they can contribute to quality service if they receive some training. Psychological First Aid training has never been expended in these settings, so this study intends to fill this gap in the existing evidence with this category of healthcare personnel. AimThe aim of this study was to introduce and evaluate first aid training for healthcare assistants. MethodA pre/post design was adopted to gather data using questionnaires and interviews. The groups of participants included 16 healthcare assistants trained in Psychological First Aid, a sample of service users and four ward managers. ResultsPost‐training, (a) healthcare assistants and service users ranked the therapeutic milieu of the ward more favourably, (b) the self‐efficacy of the healthcare assistants increased, and the number of ‘untoward’ incidents decreased, and (c) health care assistants' confidence in their skills was high. The ward manager interviews post‐training revealed four themes: (a) staff utilization of new skills and renewed enthusiasm, (b) calmer atmosphere on the ward and staff togetherness, (c) confidence and reflection on practice and (d) therapeutic engagement. DiscussionTraining healthcare assistants is useful in improving staff confidence, therapeutic engagement with service users and ward culture in general. Implications for practiceTechniques and skills learnt are relevant and useful to healthcare assistants and provide an easily understood toolkit that is harmonious with nursing values. If executed correctly, the training can enhance practice and care outcomes and the overall service user experience.

Psychological First Aid Training: A Scoping Review of Its Application, Outcomes and Implementation

“…Of six studies reporting the length of trainees work experience, half of the school counsellors and medical reserve corps had less than 5 years in employment [ 46 , 53 ], however, nursing home staff and police trainees had more than 14 years’ work experience [ 45 , 56 ]. More than 50% of trainees were educated to degree level in a related discipline (e.g., psychology, social work, nursing, education) [ 44 , 46 , 57 ], and among primary healthcare workers responding to Ebola outbreak less than 10% were educated to diploma level [ 40 ]. More than 50% trainees (community leaders and nursing students) had no prior disaster or emergency experience [ 52 , 56 ].…”

“…Even though four studies conducted a randomised controlled trial (RCT) [ 42 , 47 , 52 , 54 ], their randomisation methods were not described in detail. In the seven studies that conducted follow-up evaluations, these ranged from two weeks to six months follow up periods [ 42 , 44 , 47 , 52 , 55 , 56 , 57 ]. Six studies reported using a mixed-method evaluation design and three studies only collected qualitative data.…”

“…Six studies reported using a mixed-method evaluation design and three studies only collected qualitative data. Few studies collected views of third parties within their evaluations (e.g., course facilitator’s field notes, subjected trainees to observation by ward mangers or collected data from service users) [ 56 , 57 , 58 ]. The selection and type of outcomes measures varied enormously across studies ( Table 5 ).…”

“…Current training evaluation studies had been done all using face-to-face sessions delivered in the workplace. These included interactive didactic presentations ( n = 17) and role-play or simulation practice ( n = 9) [ 42 , 44 , 46 , 47 , 49 , 52 , 53 , 57 , 63 ]. A few studies reported providing a train-the-trainer workshop ( n = 4) [ 42 , 45 , 46 , 61 ].…”

Strategies to implement SARS-CoV-2 point-of-care testing into primary care settings: A qualitative secondary analysis guided by the Behaviour Change Wheel

“…HCAs are already accustomed to taking on responsibilities that remove excessive burdens from GPs and nurses (90,91), and they may be willing to accept the new role within a practice as a result of normative in uences to perform the behaviour (92). Educational interventions will require the development of a standardised national training course to ensure that HCAs acquire the appropriate skills and supervision to administer the tests (93,94).…”