Friday, 14 January 2005 - 2:00 PM

This presentation is part of: Attitudes and Skills in Social Work Practice

Examining the Effectiveness of the Rebuild Trauma Support Training Program in Developing Psychosocial Skills of Health Care Professionals in Medical Settings

Health care professionals working in the field of trauma often experience extreme demands such as long work hours in high-stress environments that create heightened risk for burnout and high staff turnover rates (Cydulka, Lyons, Moy, Shay, Hammer & Matthews, 1989; Grevin, 1996; Wee & Myers, 2003). Consequently, health care professionals often detach from the human side of trauma and focus solely on medical protocol in responding to the immediate medical crisis. Social workers, as critical members of interdisciplinary teams in health care settings, are in a unique professional position to develop and implement training programs that facilitate health care providers’ knowledge and skills around the psychosocial aspects of patients’ trauma experiences that affect their medical care.

This study examined the effectiveness of one such program, the Rebuild Trauma Support Training Program, developed to improve patient care through enhancing providers’ (nurses and emergency medical personnel) communication and psychosocial skills that support patients’ emotional recovery while receiving trauma services. Examples of some of the dimensions of patient-provider communication and psychosocial skills measured, included: Informing the patient about what the treatments/medical procedures are supposed to do for him/her and about the side effects of medications; demonstrating warm and caring behaviors towards the patient; creating a comfortable environment where the patient can discuss personal or sensitive issues; conveying respect towards the patient; helping the patient understand the medical plan and expected changes in health condition.

The study employed a randomized control group design (N = 79), with providers randomly assigned to one of two conditions: 1) the Rebuild Trauma Support Training program, or; 2) the delayed treatment control group. Both groups of providers completed pre and post survey instruments. Pre- and post-test survey data were also collected from the providers’ patients who were being treated at the hospital at the time of study. A repeated measures ANOVA model was estimated. The constructed model consisted of two within subject measures (importance of specific communication behaviors and likelihood of enacting those specific behaviors) over two time levels (pre and post); and included two between subjects factors which were group, consisting of two levels (experimental or control group condition) and professional status, consisting of two levels (nurse or emergency personnel). Results showed an interaction effect between time (pre and post) and group (experimental vs control condition) on the likelihood of enacting communication behaviors (F = 9.08; p<.01), but not on the importance of such behaviors (F = 3.09; p>.05). Those providers who received the Rebuild Trauma Support Training program showed significantly higher likelihood scores at post-test as compared to the control group of providers. These results give preliminary evidence, utilizing a randomized control group design, that this Rebuild training protocol may be effective at increasing the likelihood that medical professionals will enact important communication behaviors that many may already deem important for good patient care.

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