Authors :
Presenting Author: Maggie Ellison, BA – Dartmouth Health
Meredith Olenec, BA, CHW – Dartmouth Health
Trina Dawson, BA – Dartmouth Health
Lisa Sackett, PhD – Dartmouth Health
Maureen Quigley, RN – Dartmouth Health
Elaine Kiriakopoulos, MD, MPH, MSc – Dartmouth Health
Rationale:
Evidence based epilepsy self-management (ESM) programs have demonstrated patient benefit in 15 randomized controlled trials. Despite these data, access to ESM programs remains limited and there is a great need to respond to patient and provider demand for this psychoeducational support. The evidence based-HOBSCOTCH (HOme Based Self-Management and COgnitive Training CHanges Lives) program targets improving quality of life and cognition for PWE. In order to increase access to ESM programs such as HOBSCOTCH, broadly accessible interventionist training solutions are required. Accredited HOBSCOTCH Cognitive Coach virtual training was developed in 2020 to engage health care providers as interventionists delivering the program to participants 1:1. This study examines the feasibility and acceptability of virtual interactive Cognitive Coach training.Methods:
Trainees completed 8 hours of virtual interactive training (two 4 hours sessions). A multidisciplinary team (MD, psychologist, APRN, public health scientist, CHW) delivered didactic lessons, interactive compensatory behavioral strategy case discussion, simulated demonstration of problem solving therapy(PST), and Coach-participant PST role play exercises. Post training participants completed a digital survey via REDCap; program evaluation assessed acceptability of the virtual training experience by asking (i) how prepared trainees felt to deliver the intervention to participants post training, (ii) how they felt about the length of time for virtual training sessions, and (iii) how likely they would be to recommend training to a colleague.
Results:
In total, 362 Cognitive Coaches (60.5% licensed health care providers, 29.8% community health care professionals/public health educators, 9.7% students/trainees) completed virtual training sessions (n= 31; 2020–2025) provided by a multidisciplinary team at the HOBSCOTCH Institute. Of the virtual trainees, 252 (70%) completed the voluntary post training survey. Post training 75.8% of respondents stated they felt very/extremely prepared to deliver the intervention, and 23.5% felt moderately prepared; 88.1% described the time the training took as about right; 3.6% felt the training length was too short and 7.9% felt too long. 94.8% of respondents said they were likely or very likely to recommend the training to their colleagues. International trainees participated from Australia, Canada, Greece, Singapore and UAE in addition to clinical providers from the U.S, based in 34 states (Fig 1). Conclusions:
Post training survey data suggest virtual ESM training is feasible, acceptable and allows for broad program adoption in the US and internationally. HOBSCOTCH Cognitive Coach trainees reported high levels of satisfaction with the virtual education provided and indicated confidence for implementing the program, as well as confidence for sharing the virtual training opportunity. Building capacity through accessible workforce training remains a priority for advancing the dissemination of self-management supports for PWE.
Funding: none