Effectiveness of communication skill training on cancer truth-telling for advanced practice nurses in Taiwan: A pilot study

Objective: Advanced practice nurses (APNs) can best support physicians in improving the quality of truth-telling. However, the effectiveness of communication skill training (CST), based on the Japanese SHARE model exclusive to APNs, has not been tested from APNs' and recipients' viewpoints, motivating the author to conduct the present study. Methods: A two-group before–after model design was adopted, and 61 APNs from two hospitals were randomly assigned to either an experimental group (EG; N = 28) or an control group (CG; N = 33). APNs in the EG received 6 h of CST under the guidance of qualified facilitators and simulated patients. This study used APNs' subjective assessment (N = 61) (self-confidence and perceptions on truth-telling) and recipients' opinions (N = 480) (cancer patients' and their caregivers' satisfaction with truth-telling and emotional status) to assess the effectiveness of the SHARE CST. Data were collected before CST (baseline, T0), immediately after (T1), and 2 weeks after (T2). Results: APNs in the EG had more confidence (p < 0.05) and better perceptions of cancer truth-telling (p < 0.01) than APNs in the CG at both T1 and T2. No group differences were found in patients' or their caregivers' satisfaction with truth-telling, emotional distress, and anxiety (p > 0.05). In addition, patients in the EG had higher depression than patients in the CG (β = 1.65, p = 0.01). Conclusions: SHARE CST can improve APNs' confidence and perceptions of cancer truth-telling. However, more rigorous studies are required to test the effectiveness of CST from recipients' viewpoint.