Formulation and feedback: an illustration of two methods for improving access to effective therapies.
It is now recognised that therapists require career-long training in order to maintain and improve their expertise. However, training will fail to improve services to clients unless the work environment supports staff in its use. Although this "training transfer" problem is widely acknowledged, to the authors' knowledge the way that the work environment influences clients' access to effective therapies has not been subjected to a detailed and systematic formulation. Therefore, this small study illustrates a suitable formulation, based on the training received by a group of National Health Service (NHS) staff in "psychosocial interventions", and proposes its use as a "feedback fascia" to managers and others. To do this, structured interviews were held with a self-selected sample of n = 20 therapists (mostly nurses) and all of their managers (n = 11) in one NHS Trust. The results indicated an impressive degree of training transfer. It is concluded that staff training can improve clients' access to effective treatments, but that significant organisational support for innovation is required. A feedback fascia can guide such support.
Centre for Applied Psychology, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
Derek
D
Milne
Seirian
S
Hanner
Katy
K
Woodward
Colin
C
Westerman
D000328:Adult; D005246:Feedback; D005260:Female; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D007318:Inservice Training / Q000458:organization & administration; D008297:Male; D008605:Mental Health Services; D008875:Middle Aged; D013222:State Medicine; D006113:United Kingdom