title: The ACTive Intervention in Hospice Interdisciplinary Team Meetings: Exploring family caregiver and hospice team communication.
abstract: This paper presents the theoretical framework and rationale for the ACTive intervention which proposes the use of video technology to facilitate patient and family participation in hospice interdisciplinary team meetings where plans of care are determined. It is surmised that patient and family involvement will improve communication and compliance in hospice care. An analysis of data from a pilot project of the ACTive intervention was conducted to explore active participation among family caregivers and the hospice team. Through the use of videophone technology caregivers participated in video-recorded team meetings. The actual communication behaviors of caregivers and team members were analyzed for active participation. Findings revealed that team-prompted caregiver participation was most common, however, team use of supportive talk in this context was considerably less frequent. The study also found that the team's use of active participation behaviors elicits caregiver active participation behaviors. The results of this study suggest the intervention was an effective way to involve family caregivers as active participants in the designing of care for their loved one. Findings also suggest that hospice staff would benefit from education and training on best practices for communicating with caregivers in the team meeting setting.
authors.affiliation: Department of Communication Studies, University of North Texas P. O. Box 305268 Denton TX 76203-5268 lyles@unt.edu.
authors.forename: Elaine
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Wittenberg-Lyles
authors.forename: Debra
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Parker Oliver
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Demiris
authors.forename: Paula
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Baldwin